


Eyes and Lies on the Prize

by Bolmung



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Comedy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Feelings, Feelings Realization, Hanahaki Disease, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Identity Reveal, LGBTQ Themes, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Love, Making Out, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marriage Proposal, Masturbation, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square Angst, Multi, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other, Partners to Lovers, Red String of Fate, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Secret Identity, Sex, Sexual Experimentation, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Frustration, Swearing, Truth or Dare, Unrequited Love, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:21:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29568135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolmung/pseuds/Bolmung
Summary: Agreste is holding a fashion contest in which the winner gets one full 6 hour date with Adrien. Marinette accidentally ends up winning as Ladybug when an akuma forces her to transform in the middle of the contest (without revealing her identity). When things go right on the date Adrien confesses and Ladybug returns the confession, leading them to becoming a secret couple who meet in the shadows of the night. Things aren't as simple as it sounds when Marinette is convinced some random jerk is the real Chat Noir and Adrien has no idea she thinks this. To make matters worse, Adrien is completely convinced that Marinette couldn't possibly be Ladybug and is driving himself insane trying to maintain their secret relationship while suddenly realizing he has feelings for Marinette. Things get even worse when Ladybug starts feeling confusing things for Chat Noir. Now they have to keep lying to each other until prom night when they make a vow to each other.What a complete mess of lies they've made to keep just one secret; their identities until their wedding date. Where are all these flowers coming from?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the tags are correct. Many of the tags apply to later chapters.

Eyes and Lies on The Prize

Ch. 1 – The Dress

The panic had set in full force as Marinette struggled with the bobbin on her sewing machine. The beads of sweat on her brow were beginning to stream down the sides of her face as her body heated up from the repetitive motions of readjusting the enormous cloth constantly. She inwardly cursed herself for choosing such a puffy dress and the heat of the competition was baring down on her shoulders. Every thread had to be in just the right place, every seam must be perfectly straight, and every faux onyx costume jewel must be tightly anchored to avoid that awful drooping that happened last year.

“Marinette!” Tikki cried out worriedly. “Take a break, even just for five minutes!” The kwami pleaded and begged, but the mortal girl just wasn’t budging. “Even gods take breaks!”

“True love doesn’t get breaks, Tikki.” the seamstress said as she flipped the dress inside out and lined it up with the needle.

“Yes it does….” Tikki sighed in defeat as she floated up to the upper shelf to watch her precious human work herself half to death for the next few hours without rest.

At some point Tikki lost track of time and dozed off to the never-ending sounds of the sewing machine clicking and the dress ruffling. Like a methodical lullaby the god snoozed as Marinette poured her heart and soul into her work. The occasional groan and grumble from the girl weren’t enough to stir the deity, but the loud **thump** of Marinette’s body hitting the floor was certainly enough to wake the entire household.

“Marinette!?” Tikki shrieked as she floated down to the dazed girl on the floor. “Did you fall asleep at the needle again?” she scolded.

Marinette groaned and opened her weary eyes and just rolled over on the floor to her side. “This is fine, just a quick nap…” she said followed by a yawn.

A concerned voice from below could be heard and Tikki flew for cover. “Marinette? Was that you? Are you okay?” came the familiar voice of her mother. The woman poked her head through the floorboards and frowned at the sight of her daughter sleeping on the cold hard floor, mumbling softly. She ascended the stairs and made her way over to her daughter. With a surprising amount of strength, she scooped her child up and laid her on her chaise lounge. “You’re getting so big!” the woman whined as she stretched her back out. After draping a blanket over Marinette’s slumbering form, she turned off all the lights and returned to downstairs.

It wasn’t more than a couple of hours later that Marinette’s alarm clock was blaring and her heavy eyelids did their best to open and take in the sight of the morning sun. She sat up and looked out the window and was greeted by a gentle sunrise only know to Parisians. All other sunrise’s paled in comparison in her opinion.

“Wait…. **sunrise**!?” She leapt off of her chaise lounge and ran over to her sewing machine and began working once more. Her perfect dress was nearly complete and she wasn’t about to let something silly like _time_ stop her.

Before she knew it, the sun was high overhead and noon was long gone. Her leftover cookies from her midnight snack weren’t enough to keep her going so she sauntered down her staircase in her pajamas and messy hair into the bakery. Her father was busy working the piping on a cake while her mother was tending to customers at the front. She took it upon herself to grab her light lunch as to not disturb her hardworking parents. As she rounded the corner with a glass of milk in one hand, a muffin in the other hand, and a croissant in her mouth, she happened to see a horrifying sight; her future father-in-law in full regalia at her counter.

It was too late for a tactical retreat; he’d already spotted her. He gave her the same soulless glare he gave everyone else, even his own beloved son. “Dupain-Cheng,” he said calmly as he locked eyes with her.

She froze and with all her willpower she forced a smile, croissant and all. She used two fingers from her muffin holding hand to make a ‘V’ shape as she smiled, hoping it would come across as cute and not disrespectful. She stayed in this pose for an awkward amount of time before he gave her an uncharacteristically _genuine_ smile. He seemed amused at her before turning his eyes back to her mother as his face reverted back to that stoicness that the world knew him for. She quickly hid behind the corner, but peeked her head around to witness him order a couple of custom cakes.

“Would you like that with buttercream frosting or whipped?” her mother asked as she scribbled on a notepad.

“Buttercream, and if you could flavor it pineapple somehow that’d be even better.” He said as her mother made a ‘mhm’ sound and kept writing. Marinette winced at the pineapple request. “Also, I’d like a second cake for my son to share with the winner. Could you leave that cake blank and free from all writing, our own cake decorator will custom write the winner’s name on it.”

“Certainly!” the woman said as she finished writing the order.

“I have several more catering orders to place as well, our other bakery is no longer able to fulfill our needs for tomorrow, I hope you don’t mind these last-minute orders.” He said stiffly.

“Not at all, we didn’t have any orders for tomorrow anyways, Tom and I are happy to have you as a customer, even last-minute.” Sabine smiled and kept scribbling in her notepad.

An idea popped into Marinette’s head and she sprinted upstairs as she shoved the croissant in her mouth like a vulture. She slammed her glass of milk down on the table along with the muffin and swallowed the croissant whole. With a second wind of energy and inspiration she added extra gemstones and lace to the hem of the dress. She rewarded herself for each gem put in place perfectly with a bite of muffin. Within the hour every gemstone was in its rightful place and the red dress adorned with black gems sparkled in the sunlight as she held it up.

“Oh Tikki!” she sighed out dreamily as she held the dress up against herself and spun around in front of the full body mirror. “Do you think I’ll win?” she asked in a dreamlike state.

As the small Tikki floated down to the mirror she made a quizzical face before looking back to Marinette. “Put it on, let’s see it!”

Eagerly Marinette changed into the dress. It was a full-on ballroom gown, red and adorned with onyx gems to symbolize ladybug spots. She was hoping Gabriel was still downstairs and so with her best efforts she squeezed herself down the small stairwell and into the bakery. Many people turned to look at her, unsure why someone was dressed for a royal ball was standing in the middle of a bakery. To her delight Gabriele was just exiting out the door, but he wasn’t facing her. She pushed passed the crowd of customers and up to the door where she stood beside him. As he opened the door, he caught that fluffy ladybug dress out of the corner of his eye and did a double-take. He stood still in the doorway and looked her up and down several times.

“Ahh!” he exclaimed after a moment. “You’re entering tomorrow’s contest I see!”

“Yup!” she grinned and spun around for him.

“An interesting choice, Victorian is always classy, and the ladybug reference is so modern!” he said with mild delight. She didn’t care how out of character he was acting; she was just glad he approved. “Even if you don’t win, you’ll surely make the honorable mentions in the magazine article. Many famous designers lost their so-called career opening contests. Sometimes the winners are one-shot-wonders who fizzle out. You have true potential, keep honing it.”

As he exited the shop and retreated to his luxury car she sighed dreamily again. She returned to her bedroom twirling around in a dream-like state, fantasizing about the contest and how Adrien would react. She couldn’t bring herself to take the dress off and wore it for a bit longer, spinning in front of the mirror and over-analyzing every lace and gemstone. She turned on her television as she danced around the room feeling like a princess.

**[Don’t forget to tune in by noon for the Agreste contest! The annual fashion contest hosted by the one and only Gabriel Agreste and the winner gets a full six hour date with his son, rising star Adrien Agreste! This year’s theme is ballroom regalia, all things royal and regal! The surprise element won’t be announced until right before the contest begins, meaning contestants will only have thirty minutes to create something fitting to their dresses to fulfil the surprise. Last year’s swimwear contest turned out to be a flop when many of Paris’ fashion designers weren’t prepared for the contest’s rules regarding excess fabric and buttons that could tear off and pollute the ocean. This year though they will have a much better time as those rules have been lifted. There’s no ocean involved in the ballroom! The surprise element for the swimsuit contest was a matching beach shawl, lots of the contestants breezed through this portion really fast, but the year prior was a bit rough!]**

Marinette’s blood boiled at the memory of the loose buttons that fell off at the waves. None of the designers were prepared for the ocean to be so aggressive that day and none were particularly experienced in swim suits in the first place. Everyone was out of their element and the winner was the ugliest design in her opinion. She hoped they didn’t mention the surprise element from the previous year, the infamous gloves situation for the Sunday dress competition. Hardly anyone at the competition knew how to sew gloves, but this year Marinette was prepared for any surprise element they could throw at her. Sock? Learned! Gloves? Already done it. Hats? She brought a base to work with. Shoes? She already made several pairs of her own heels in the past. She was ready!

**[Yes Nadja, the contest takes place at the Agreste mansion at noon. All the contestants are from Europe, but there are a few Parisians in particular this year that are returning from last year’s contest!]**

Tikki and Marinette’s eyes were glued to the television. _‘Am I about to be mentioned on TV!?’_

 **[Chloe Bourgeois and Juliette Auclair!]** A picture of the two girls appeared on screen and Marinette grit her teeth. **[Ahh yes, these two lovely girls entered last year, sadly neither of them was the winner. There’s actually a third Parisian woman in the ring! The other Parisan girl is none other than Mairnette Dupain-Cheng, from the same school as Chloe Bourgeois! Her family runs the same Dupain-Cheng bakery that is making the catering for the contest. This contest lives and breathes Marinette’s return to the spotlight!]** A picture of Marinette along with her gorgeous, but fragile, swimsuit was shown and she fist pumped in the air. **[Oh yes, I remember this girl now! She was in hot competition in the prior year as well as last year. I’m being told that all three of these girls entered the contest again this round and we’ll be delighted to see what they bring to the ballroom! Remember that this event will be recorded live at noon from the Agreste mansion! Oh? Hold on folks, we’re getting an important phone call from the man himself!]**

Marinette and Tikki looked confused as a photo of Gabriele Agreste was displayed and his voice came through a phone call aired on screen.

**[This year’s competition is shaping up to be the best of the decade for Modella Magazine, today alone I’ve had the honor of witnessing several of the contestants’ dresses in person. The two that stood out the most were Chloe Bourgeois’ golden ‘Beauty and the Beast’ inspired gown and Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Victorian Ladybug gown. This is going to be a difficult contest for my judges and here’s to hoping all the other contestants can live up to my expectations as well. Good luck to everyone tomorrow.]**

“Oh Tikki! My fifteen minutes of fame!” she squealed.

Across Paris was an akuma-bomb ready to pop at any time. “Who does that Dupain-Cheng think she is!? That was **my** spotlight! She’s cheating by using Ladybug in her design, she should get a copyright strike for that!” Chloe hissed and whined.

Sabrina sighed as she watched Chloe angrily attach a yellow rhinestone to her dress. “You can’t be perfect in every category Chloe, you’ve beaten Marinette at every other avenue in life, it’s okay to lose to her just once.”

“No it’s not!” the diva screeched and stood up. “I’ve got some serious justice to deliver to that unlawful Ladybug dress!”

“No…” Sabrina whispered, but Chloe didn’t hear it. The smaller girl watched as her friend stormed off to further descend into chaos. _‘It’s not easy watching someone you love fall so hard.’_

As evening snuck up on Paris as did an akuma. The butterfly from hell flapped around looking for its target, finally drifting down to the Bourgeois manor and in through a window where it wafted all around. Sabrina sunk to the floor in tears as Chloe got in her chauffer’s car and sped off to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Her phone in hand with her lawyer conversing with her.

“It may not work in the end, but it should be enough to keep her out of the contest.” The man on the other end said.

“That’s good enough for me, just make sure its anonymous, I don’t want this interfering with _my_ participation.” Chloe said as she scowled.

The butterfly made its way to Sabrina’s needle where the raw emotions of the demon consumed her.

**“Seamripper, I am Hawkmoth. I am giving you the power to tear apart the seams of all that which is wrong in this world. Go forth and tear apart the threads holding evil bonds together, including that of Ladybug and Chat Noir!”**

“Yes Hawkmoth, this has been my destiny for a long time now.” Sabrina said as her new attire materialized around her. She leapt from Chloe’s balcony and began the ritual of destruction upon Paris to attract Ladybug and Chat Noir.

She ripped the seams from everyone clothes and stitched them back together like a paper cutout family. Shirts were sewn to pants, preventing people from escaping from her magic threads. Many tried to break free, but the threads were seemingly uncuttable by even the sharpest of knives. An entire neighborhood had their clothing shredded and resewn into a massive ball that rolled down the streets, snagging everyone in its path and attaching them to it.

Adrien’s phone beeped and his heart leapt into his throat. _‘Of course there’d be an akuma now of all times!’_ his mind raced alongside his heart. He was unfortunately not alone and trapped in the middle of his Chinese lesson with his instructor. The session was far from over and there was likely no easy way to excuse himself.

“Agreste, please pay attention!” the Chinese man said sternly. “That phone is why you are still struggling with your verbs and adjectives.”

“Let me go put it in my room and it won’t be able to distract me anymore.” Adrien stood up. “And I’ll go to the toilet and get a drink while I’m up, so I’ll be a minute.” He lied as he quickly took off to his bedroom to transform. The man attempted to object, but the boy was far gone in a flash.

Marinette was still sitting on her chaise lounge with a dreamy look in her eyes as she admired the dress she’d managed to take off and hang up on her mannequin. The beeping on her phone didn’t bring her out of her daze until Tikki began flittering all around her head.

“Earth to Marinette!” the kwami pleaded as she dive bombed the girl’s face.

“Oh!” she squeaked in surprise. “Tikki? What’s the—Oh my god an akuma!” she exclaimed as she finally noticed the relentless beeping of her phone. “Tikki, spots on!”

Before she knew it, she was already jumping from her balcony and out into Paris’ busy streets. The sun was beginning to set, but she was still able to see the panic happening downtown. She met up with Chat Noir and began the tango that the two were used to for a few years now. Crime fighting was less of an adrenaline rush as it was their first year, and now it was like a chore that inconvenienced them in their daily lives. Still got their hearts racing from time to time when Hawkmoth began attacking at random hours and in places further out than they were used to. Today seemed like an average akuma attack, nothing out of the ordinary that they could see at the moment.

While the battle was raging Chloe sat in her car outside the bakery waiting for her lawyer to arrive with cease-and-desist papers. Finally, her phone rang and the man on the other end sounded a little more than slightly scared. “M-miss Bourgeois?” he stuttered.

“What is it? Spit it out?” the girl sneered at the phone.

“Since Dupain-Cheng’s costume is just a generic ladybug and not associated with any official Ladybug and Chat Noir memorabilia…..it can’t be copyright struck…. They apparently already got legal approval of the dress’s design before she began sewing it…. I’m so sorry…” he hung up before listening to her crazed rant about her father being mayor.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself!” she screamed and got out of the car and marched up to the bakery and inside. She composed herself and went up to the counter. “Hello!” she said feigning cheerfulness. “I am friends with Marinette at school and she forgot her homework, is she upstairs?”

Sabine was no stranger to Chloe and knew the girl was lying, but this was Marinette’s fight and allowed the girl to go up the stairs and into her daughter’s room. Chloe didn’t bother knocking and went inside. This was only the second time she’d been in her rival’s room; the first time was many years ago. To her delight Marinette was nowhere to be found, but the dress was right out in plain sight. As she marched up to the dress, the evening light from the lamp post outside shone down upon it.

 _‘It’s…dazzling…’_ she thought as she caressed it. It glistened and gleamed, taunting her to try it all, it was practically whispering her name. Taking off her jacket, blouse, and pants was almost instinctual. She slipped inside the heavy dress and gasped as the zipper closed up her back. It didn’t fit her perfectly, but well enough to be worn without it falling or being too tight. She looked in the mirror in awe and her heart twisted.

 _‘This isn’t fair…. **I’m** supposed to win….’ _She thought as she did a spin to let the air catch the ruffles and lift the hem of the dress up. It did a perfect fluff of the ruffles that you see in the movies. _‘Mom….’_ She thought wistfully for a moment before snapping back to reality. Her eyes darted all around, making sure Marinette hadn’t snuck up on her. She took the dress off and put her own clothes back on and stared at the glittering gown in her hands. How many stitches did it take to anchor all those gems on it? How many stitches did her own dress have? She bit her lip and let her anger flow through her.

She grabbed the scissors from the sewing table and began hacking away at the dress until it was in an unrecognizable heap on the floor. _‘Mother….’_

Something akin to guilt and shame washed over her for the briefest of moments, followed by the rush of victory. _‘No, I **deserve** that date with Adrien!’ _she reminded herself and took off down the stairs flying passed Marinette’s parents without a word and back into her car. No one in the bakery saw the tears in her eyes, nor the quivering of her lip as she fled the scene of the murder.

Ladybug and Chat Noir just finished their fist bump as they watched the purified akuma fly away. Sabrina looked around confused for a moment before sighing raggedly in realization. “Not again…” she groaned as she stood up and gave the retreating super heroes a gloomy look.

“M’lady, that was the neatest trick I’ve ever seen you do with a lucky charm before!” Chat said gleefully as they bounced from rooftop to rooftop together.

“Yeah, who knew you could turn a fork into a slingshot strong and accurate enough to break a sewing needle from so far away?” she giggled as they landed a safe distance away from the cheering crowd.

“Hey, before we transform back,” Chat began sheepishly. “You once told me you were into fashion and were an aspiring designer, did you happen to enter that Agreste contest for tomorrow?”

“Of course I did! It’s the biggest breakthrough any young designer could ask for! I’d be crazy not to!” Ladybug smirked and crossed her arms.

Chat’s eyes widened and she grinned from ear to ear. “I’m gonna be there somewhere, not as a contestant of course, but I’m gonna be _in the area_.”

Ladybug raised a brow, wondering what Chat Noir would be doing at a fashion contest. “Don’t go trying to figure out who I am or anything, you won’t guess correctly. There’s over five hundred contestants!”

“Yes but…” Chat chuckled deeply “There’s only three girls from Paris competing.”

Ladybug’s eyes opened wide in realization. “Wh-what makes you think that? The list of contestants isn’t even out yet! That news report earlier--”

“Because **I** was one of the people helping compose the contestants’ applications! We were recording statistics and such.” he snickered at her blushing face. “There’s only three girls you could possibly be! Chloe Bourgeois, Marinette Dupain-Cheng….or….” he paused dramatically. Ladybug’s heart leapt into her throat when he said her name, but waited eagerly for the fourth name. “ **Juliette Auclair**!” he pointed his finger at her in an accusatory manner.

Ladybug stifled a laugh at him. “Oh you’re so far off the mark it’s not even funny!”

His face dropped; how could she possibly be anybody else?

“Okay, I’m confused. I know you’re not Chloe, and I’ve seen you and Marinette together when you chose her for the mouse miraculous.….” He pondered to himself. “Juliette Auclair didn’t send her profile picture in so I don’t know what she looks like….hmmm…”

“Well you keep dwelling on it kitty, I gotta go feed my kwami and get some rest before the contest. I didn’t exactly sleep well last night.” She said as she took off before he could respond. “And don’t tell anyone I’m gonna be there!” she shouted from a distance, but he was too lost in thought and her words didn’t register.

Chat transformed back into Adrien as he walked home alone deep in though. _‘Chloe, Marinette, or Juliette…….Chloe, Marinette, or Juliette….’_ His mind repeated over and over again. When he got home, he got on his computer and Googled Juliette Auclair and found she had many social media accounts open to the public.

“Well, she’s got dark hair that almost looks blue in the right lighting like Ladybug. What do you think?” He mumbled to himself. Plagg downed his second cheese wedge as he ignored his mortal’s inquiry. “She’s from across the tower from us, but still close enough to get to us in an akuma attack. She’s the right age and height, right hair color, right eye color……wrong face though…” he frowned.

“You’ve never even seen Ladybug’s face before!” Plagg said bluntly.

Adrien pulled up a picture of Ladybug from Alya’s Ladyblog and put it side by side next to Juliette’s. “I know, but her face still doesn’t seem right to me…. I’ll have to hear her voice too.” He said as he clicked a blog video of Juliette showing off her designs. He put earbuds in and closed his eyes and listened intently. His brow furrowed and his mouth curled into a frown. “Maybe?” he tilted his head then opened his eyes to see her showcasing a dress. Her hair was pulled into two braided pigtail hanging over her shoulders and down her chest. “Right hair length too, Ladybug started letting her hair grow out.”

“You know that doesn’t matter, right?” Plagg said as he inhaled another cheese wedge.

“Bwah…?” was the only noise out of Adrien as he pulled the earbuds out and turned to look at the gorging god.

“Remember when you and Ladybug got your miraculouses switched up and she turned into Lady Noir? Her hair got _really_ long! Some people even get taller! You get more muscular for sure, and I’m pretty sure your hair does that thing in those cartoons where they power up and yell a lot! I wouldn’t worry about their appearances at all and just focus on the personalities. The key to finding Ladybug will be in her dress design tomorrow!” Plagg waggled his tail in his human’s direction.

Adrien’s eyes opened wide and went to YouTube to find the news recording from earlier about Marinette’s Victorian Ladybug dress. Plagg rolled his eyes and said “Oh come on! That’s **too** easy, even for you!”

“You’re right, Ladybug is too secretive about her identity, she wouldn’t even try a Ladybug dress.” Adrien sighed out and closed all thirty tabs of Ladybug data.

A knock on his door alerted him to his father’s sudden and bizarre presence. “Father? What are you doing here so late?”

“I came to make sure you were well prepared for tomorrow. Make sure you use the hair products provided by the salon we’re sponsoring and the new cologne you branded last week, it goes on sale tomorrow.”

“Yes father.” Adrien replied flatly.

“Your new jeans are going to be brought up in the morning after Natalie picks them up from the dry cleaners. Your shoe contract has sent a fresh pair for you, they’re already broken in to your measurements. Your jacket will be elbow length tomorrow in case the temperature drops a few degrees.”

“Yes father…..” Adrien mumbled.

“Your tuxedo for the date is finished being tailored and will be brought directly to the contest tomorrow, you don’t need to worry about changing into it right away.” He added in monotone.

“Ugh, okay I get it….” Adrien whined. “I’m overwhelmed…”

“What’s the matter with you? This is important, at least pay attention. What has you so down?” Gabriele asked, clearly not amused by his son’s tepid demeanor.

“Nothing is wrong I just….I heard someone is gonna be there and I’m really distracted…” he said with a soft sigh.

“Who is it, I’ll remove them from the competition at once if it gives you-“

“No! No please, it’s Ladybug!” Adrien’s eyes widened in surprise at even himself, he hadn’t meant to leak that information to anyone, especially the head of the contest.

Gabriel’s usual stone face turned soft and in slight awe, “Ladybug is participating?”

“I uh…-eh….I…..” Adrien stuttered looking for a lie to tell.

“How did you come across this delicate piece of information? Are your sources credible?” Gabriel asked quickly.

“Yes, but I can’t tell you how I found out!” he clasped his hands together in what looked to be prayer. Gabriel grit his teeth at his son who looked like a puppy. Adrien swallowed hard and thought of Alya of all people and an idea popped into his head. “I go to school with the girl who runs the Ladyblog and they got an inside scoop somehow, they’ve never been wrong about this kind of thing before!”

 _‘My lady, I am so sorry!’_ Adrien’s mind envisioned himself being screamed at by her and he winced.

“Interesting, this will certainly spice a few things up. Hopefully she’s got taste.” Gabriel said before turning to leave, a plan as sinister as they come forming in his mind.

“Now you’ve done it, now Ladybug will know it was **YOU** who ousted her!” Plagg chided.

With a swift and careless moment of stupid-genius he turned to his computer and opened the Ladyblog and sent a quick email to Alya that Ladybug was competing. He signed his name at the bottom and hit ‘send’.

“There, now it’s **Adrien’s** fault and not Chat Noir’s!” he crossed his arms.

**[PING!]**

As Alya stepped out of her bathroom with her hair freshly washed and in her pajamas, she heard the alert on her phone. She had a special sound go off for when someone emailed the blog, most the time these emails were useless garbage, but there were those golden moments when the gods shined down upon her and spoon-fed her the information she needed to thrive on. A wicked grin spread across her face as she called Nino.

“Alya?” Nino answered groggy. “Do you know what time it is, girl?”

“Dear future husband, the scoop of a **lifetime** has just landed in my lap.” She cackled out deeply, catching Nino off guard. “Ladybug is competing at the Agreste contest tomorrow, we’re _so_ going!”

“Weren’t we already going to cheer Marinette on and sneak in on Adrien’s date and monitor things from the shadows?” Nino asked.

“Yes, but now we’re there on official Ladyblog business! We’re gonna have a press-pass and be in behind the scenes and not just in the audience!” Alya let loose another witch cackle as she put him on speaker phone so she could email the news press about the situation and beg for permission to film alongside them.

Even though the Ladyblog was ran by but a simple high schooler she was often given special privileges and passes to events pertaining to Ladybug and Chat Noir. She was given an immediate green-light and instructions on where to be and when.

“Alya?” Nino asked as a new slew of laughs erupted from his maniac of a woman.

“We’re going in **_officially_**!” Alya said as all Nino could hear was the clickity clacks of her keyboard going faster than ever before.

“I’m going back to bed, love you.” He mumbled before yawning.

“Be at my place at ten in the morning, we got stuff to do babe! Love you!” she said before hanging up and going back to her madness at the keyboard.

Ladybug made it back to her balcony and let her transformation fall off after making sure no one saw her. With a heavy sigh she crawled down her hatchet and dropped onto her fluffy bed. Sleep overtook her before she could even take her shoes off. Tikki floated down to the first level of her bedroom is search of a cookie to replenish her energy when she spotted the tattered mess of red on the floor.

 _‘Oh no!’_ Tikki thought as she inspected the strips of cloth on the floor. _‘Should I tell her now or let her sleep?’_ Tikki struggled with her inner thoughts. _‘She worked all month on this dress….. She spent almost every night on it….She can’t make a new one in one night… But if I don’t tell her now then she won’t even have the chance…. But if I tell her now and she starts on a new one she won’t even finish in time and she won’t have had any sleep to even compete….’_

Tikki made the choice to leave it up to Marinette and flew up to the girl and tugged on her hair. “Marinette I know you’ll make the right choice, just please wake up!”

“Mhmmmm…” Marinette mumbled as she rolled over the other direction. “What is it?” she asked softly.

“Oh Marinette, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened!” Tikki cried out and Marinette’s eyes flew open.

“What’s wrong Tikki?” Marinette panicked, this wasn’t normal Tikki behavior, she was usually very calm and collected and rational. “What happened?”

“I can’t bring myself to say it, you’ll have to see for yourself.” Tikki whimpered and pointed down to her first floor. Marinette leaned over her bed and her eyes scanned the room in a hurry before spotting the red pile of material on the floor.

 _‘No, no way…’_ her mind went blank as that first hit of fear made its way through her chest and up her neck. She carefully lowered herself from her bed’s stairs, forcing herself not to look at the pile on the floor. She made to sure wait until her feet were firmly on the ground before even daring to look over at it.

She laughed softly for a moment and took a sigh of relief. “Phew, for a moment there I thought that was my dress!” She bent down and grabbed a handful of it and inspected it. “It’s just the left-over scraps!” she told herself. “See Tikki, look!” she held it up for the kwami to see.

“Marinette…you’re really tired….” Tikki floated down to her and placed a paw on her outstretched hand. “You should just go to bed and see what tomorrow has in store for you, maybe Gabriel will remember your dress and mention you in the magazine?”

Marinette’s false smile wilted as she turned her head back to the red and black pile on the floor. The bodice was still recognizable even with all the slashes in it. She slumped to the floor in denial and she held up the bodice that still had a bit of lace and clutched it to her chest. She let loose a rather loud and obnoxious wail that alerted her parents downstairs. It didn’t even sound like a noise a human would make, but alas it was the banshee screech of a teenage girl with her heart torn asunder.

Sabine and Tom had just closed the bakery to customers and were wrapping up when they heard their daughter scream out in agony. They flew up the stairs and thrust open the hatched to her bedroom to witness Marinette screaming in horror as tears streaked her cheeks. The tattered dress in her arms told them all they needed to know and Sabine’s normally pleasant face turned absolutely wicked.

“That’s the last time that **witch** messes with our daughter, Tom.” Sabine said as she descended the stairs and picked up her phone.

Tom came all the way up and sat next to his wailing child. “Don’t worry honey, we’re going to pursue legal action against this. She won’t be allowed anywhere near here ever again.”

Marinette calmed herself enough to look up at him. “Wh-who?”

She already knew, she didn’t need to hear her name.

“Chloe Bourgeois.” He said through grit teeth.

“How do you know it was her?” she asked as she let the dress fall back to the floor and let him scoop her up in his arms.

“You didn’t see her?” he asked and she shook her head. “Chloe came by to hand you some homework you missed from school so we let her in your room a while ago. She must’ve done it then.”

“I was asleep, I never saw her. I haven’t even missed school in months!” she cried out.

“I’m so sorry, this is our fault. We should’ve just had her hand it to us, but the bakery was so busy and we-“

“This is not your fault!” Marinette said as she stood up and looked down at the heap of a dress. “This is single-handedly the work of the evilest person on the planet!”

“Don’t go getting yourself akumatized now, dear. Do you have time to make a new dress before tomorrow?” He placed a large hand on her shoulder.

“No, and I don’t have enough fabric either….” She said in defeat.

Tom thought for a moment and an idea hit him. “Go get some rest and I’ll get you all the fabric you need. Let us handle this sweetie.” He said as he kissed her forehead and she slumped back up to her bed to cry herself to sleep. Somehow she managed to fall asleep fairly quickly, but it wasn’t a very restful sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Eyes and Lies on The Prize

Ch.2 – Surprise Element of Surprise

It was around eight in the morning when Marinette woke up again, having temporarily forgotten the previous night’s woes she stretched as the sunlight greeted her warmly. She gave a soft yawn as she pulled the blankets off of herself and climbed down her stairs to the first-floor of her bedroom. She didn’t make it more than two steps before the night before came crashing back down on her. She immediately felt like tearing up again, but before she could even let the dam burst something in the corner of her room caught her eye.

She stood silent and still, almost in denial. The mannequin had her dress on it, but not the one she’d spent the last month master-crafting. She stayed in her spot just staring at it, trying to process what she was looking at and why. Her bluebell eyes wandered every inch of this dress, knowing it was hers and she’s the one who designed and sewed it. But what was **this** dress doing **here** and **now**?

“Surprise!” Tikki shouted. Marinette looked over at her kwami with a look of wonder as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

“Oh Tikki….” She said softly as she approached the dress and touched it. “Did you bring this to me?”

“Nope, your dad brought it up last night while you slept.”

“This is the dress I made for the contest in China that got cancelled. I ended up giving it to my mom for her birthday instead.” Marinette said as she traced her fingers over the beadwork of the chest.

“Yes, but it’s a dress **you** designed and sewed yourself!” Tikki said cheerfully.

“But it’s not a ballroom gown, this is…this is…..” Marinette stopped and gasped, allowing a warm smile spread across her face. “There’s no culture requirement on ballroom gowns! Cheongsams have been known to be worn at balls in China’s history!”

Marinette took it off the mannequin and began plucking at the beads and replacing them with the onyx gems from the scrap heap on the floor. She took the size in to fit herself instead of her mother. The bottom lace from the original dress was intact just enough to apply it to the cheongsam and she even had other beads and gems to add to it that wasn’t fitting for the other dress. Within a couple of hours she had something that looked halfway decent. By ten she was putting the dress in a protective plastic case and taking a huge sigh of relief.

“I won’t win with this dress, but I’ll be able to compete and shove it in Chloe’s face!” she said with a glimmer of hope.

“Actually, I saved the best for last!” Tikki said as she landed on Marinette open palm. “Your parents contacted a lawyer as soon as they opened this morning. There’s security footage of Chloe coming in the bakery and even another lawyer said she tried to get your dress disqualified by saying ladybug was a copyrightable design. She got told no, but there’s enough proof to actually teach Chloe a lesson that not even being the mayor’s daughter can get her out of!”

“You mean she might actually face _consequences_ this time?” Marinette asked with genuine joy. “It’s about time the justice system started teaching her lessons! How many people has she abused? How many times has she vandalized someone else’s property like this? How many people has she gotten akumatized? It’s high time she learns she can’t do this forever!”

After the world’s fastest shower, she rummaged through her closet for a pair of heels. She had plenty of options, but she wasn’t sure which were best for a cheongsam. She chose a simple black hair and adorned it with black rhinestones to help it sparkle with the dress. She knew well in advance that the shoes might be the surprise element and already planned for it. She blow dried her hair and parted it into two low ponytails hanging down over her shoulders and over her chest, and put on a light layer of make-up. She was ready to take on the day after some breakfast. With the dress in hand in its protective wrapper and her sewing suitcase in hand she came down stairs and snagged a croissant and a to-go coffee with a wink. Tom and Sabine almost teared up seeing their daughter fight so viciously against people so mean.

“The competitors might be wolves, but our daughter is a damn tiger!” Tom hollered as Marinette ran out the door smirking at her father’s compliment.

Marinette texted Alya who was already parked across the street. She hopped into the back seat and laid her stuff on the seat next to her with a huge sigh.

“Girl, you’re not gonna believe what happened last night!” both of them said in unison.

Alya raised a brow at her friend. “I bet my story is better!”

Marinette gave her a cheeky smile. “I seriously doubt that!”

“Oh really?” Alya said as she pulled out of her parking spot and took off towards the Agreste mansion. “Go first, what happened last night with you?”

“Chloe happened!” Marinette felt her anger rise again. “She snuck into my bedroom and destroyed my dress! She told my parents she had homework to drop off, but I was asleep so she shredded my dress!”

“Oh my god!” Alya almost slammed on her breaks, but manage to maintain control. “So you just don’t have a dress to compete with!?”

“Oh I do, Chloe didn’t get her claws on this one! I had a last-minute spare!” Marinette said victoriously as she patted the white plastic carrier with a hanger.

“Can I see it?” Alya asked eagerly.

“Nope, it’s gonna be a secret to everyone!” Marinette said proudly. “So what happened with you last night?”

“I got **inside scoop** from Adrien Agreste himself that Ladybug was competing!” Alya said sinisterly.

Marinette gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth then looked down at her dress carrier then back to Alya. “No way…what?”

“Yup! Last night at about midnight Adrien emailed the Ladyblog saying he had a credible source that said that Ladybug herself is a competitor! I told the news station and they gave Nino and I press passes to film front row instead of from the audience!” Alya bragged as she showed off her fancy press badge.

Marinette slumped down into her seat. “That’s amazing…I’m so happy for you….”

 _‘Oh Chat, did you tell someone? Who is Adrien’s credible source? Are you friend with--- That’s how Chat got the job helping sort contestants! He’s friends with Adrien!’_ She seethed with rage. _‘Chat Noir, you’re no cat! You’re a dog! A dirty, dirty dog!’_

“Alright girl, we’re here!” Alya said as she turned the car off. “We gotta go get set up with our station to film, since you’re a contestant you gotta go get set up for the surprise element. Good luck!”

Marinette registered in as contestant number ‘ ** _three-hundred and thirty-seven’_** and hooked her machine up to the outlet in her tiny allotted desk and set up with time to spare for the surprise element announcement. She took this extra time to compose herself and set up all of her supplies so everything was easily accessible for the thirty minute timer. Suddenly, a familiar screech reached her ears and she whipped her head around to see the witch herself stomping her feet.

“What do you mean **disqualified**!?” Chloe hissed at the man with the clipboard. Marinette smirked and turned her chair to face the scene unfolding. She crossed her legs and sipped on her coffee as she witnessed history in the making.

“My mother is one of the founders of this contest, without her there is no contest! How could you disqualify **me**!?” She screamed at the poor man who was just trying to do his job.

After another satisfying sip of hot coffee Marinette got a good look at the man with the clipboard. He had shaggy blond hair and big emerald eyes. A thought clicked in Marinette’s mind and she immediately dismissed it and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, that’s just what I was told when I got here this morning. I didn’t make the decision!” he pleaded. His voice was familiar, too familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

“How is it that Dupain-Cheng can have a copyrighted dress and I can’t?” she screeched back at him.

“You weren’t disqualified for copyright infringement, you sabotaged another contestant’s dress!” he retorted, finally finding his backbone. Marinette nodded her head silently off to the side, yet to be noticed by either of them.

“Who told you that nonsense?” she asked tapping her foot with her hands on her hips.

“Gabriel Agreste himself made the final decision, your own mother advocated to disqualify you. All five judged agreed unanimously this morning. You’ll have to talk to them.” He said then turned away from her and made his way across the room, far away from her.

“My…my own….mother?” Chloe’s rage fizzled out and was replaced with a quivering lower lip and sorrowful eyes.

By fate’s design Chloe happened to look in Marinette’s direction at that exact moment. The smug look on Marinette’s face was long gone after hearing Chloe’s whimper about her mother. For a brief moment Chloe considered going up to Marinette, but decided against it and instead took off running. Marinette looked at the clock to see she had plenty of time before the contest began and decided to go after her. She found her in her booth sobbing, her beautiful golden dress on the mannequin.

“Chloe?” Marinette asked softly.

“Go away! I hate you!” she screeched.

“I hope you learn from this.” Was all Marinette said before she turned around to leave, but was met with a melancholy Sabrina.

Sabrina nodded her head in a direction and made a hand motion to follow her silently, so Chloe wouldn’t notice. Marinette obliged and followed her to the side just out of Chloe’s earshot. “Her dress is so beautiful, she probably didn’t need to tear mine up to win.” Marinette said with slumped shoulders.

“I know, which is what makes this such a tragedy.” Sabrina began. “Chloe spent all year on that dress, learning every technique from online videos she could. She wanted to show her mother her worth as a designer and a model.”

“I know her mother is some big-shot, doesn’t she learn anything from her?” Marinette asked.

Sabrina shook her head. “Not a thing, she wants nothing to do with Chloe. I’m going to give you a quote directly from that woman’s mouth that she said to Chloe.” Sabrina said and looked Marinette square in the eyes. **_“The only thing special about you is your mother.”_**

Marinette felt a pang of pity. “That’s horrible, even if it is Chloe.”

“That’s why she is the way she is. She’s trying to live up to her mother’s standards.” Sabrina said as she wiped a tear from under her glasses. “Chloe could become the best designer and model in the world, and her mother wouldn’t care in the slightest. Yet she still clings to the thought of her mother one day being proud of her in some way.”

“As bad as I feel for her, she needed to be put in her place. I can’t help her.” Marinette said sternly. “Besides, even if I said I forgave her she’ll still hate me forever. She’ll blame me for her losing the contest forever.”

“She doesn’t hate you; she envies you. She hates herself.”

“Why would Chloe envy **me**?” Marinette looked baffled.

“Your mother adores you. Your mother was always so proud of you at school. She came to every parent-teacher conference, she wore your dress to an event, she openly tells you she’s proud of you. Adrien likes you, the whole class likes you. You have everything she’s ever wanted and more.” Sabrina said and Marinette let a few tears escape before wiping them away.

“She’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

“Is she?” Sabrina frowned at the distant sight of Chloe with her head down at her booth. “I can’t do anything to help her. I can just watch and obey. Love her from afar.”

Marinette’s eyes opened wide, _love_. “Of course!”

“Marinette?” Sabrina looked at her confused for a moment.

“I’ll be right back!” Marinette said before dashing off to the restroom which was thankfully empty. “Tikki, I’ve got an idea!”

“What could you possibly do to help Chloe? Weren’t you going to let her learn a lesson?” Tikki asked.

“This isn’t about Chloe, it’s about her mother. **She’s** the one who needs to be taught a lesson!” Marinette said as she grinned down at the kwami. “Spots on!”

Ladybug snuck out of the restroom and casually strolled out to the public causing everyone to turn and face her. Every camera was in her face before she could even blink.

“Ladybug! I’m so glad the rumors were true!” Alya said as she pointed her phone at her. “Can you give a statement for the Ladyblog? Are you really competing?”

“Yes, I’m competing! And thank you Chat Noir for leaking that information!” she said with an obviously angry smile.

A news reported butted in front of Alya. “Are you feeling the heat from any other specific competitors?”

“Yes, I’m glad you asked. I was really intrigued when I heard about Dupain-Cheng’s ladybug dress, but I was **really** looking forwards to Chloe Bourgeois’ Beauty and the Beast dress! She’s the competitor I think will do the best here! I can’t wait for her to model her own dress on stage, I’ll be really disappointed if I have to be backstage and miss it in person!” Ladybug said.

“Are you hoping to win the contest for your spotlight in the Modella magazine or are you just in it for that date with Adrien Agreste?”

Suddenly her reasoning returned to her, the whole reason she was going all-out today. “Why not both? I mean I grew up with Adrien posters all over my wall daydreaming at them, how could I not want a date with him?” Ladybug blushed lightly. “But, I’m really here for the magazine!”

“Do you have any future plans to pursue modeling or fashion designing after you defeat Hawkmoth?”

“Absolutely! I hope to marry someone in the fashion industry and we could combine forces to make our own brand. Once Hawkmoth is put in his place, I intend to become a fashion designer full-time!” Ladybug said proudly.

“Are you modeling your own dress today?”

“Yes! I’ll be in heavy disguise of course!” she lied. “So, no trying to figure out who I am!”

“I guess it’s safe to say that the contest will be safe if an akuma attacks suddenly! Had you considered that your presence here might encourage Hawkmoth to strike here?”

“Yes, which is why I wanted this to be kept a secret, but I should’ve known Chat Noir couldn’t keep his mouth shut! He’s always letting the cat out of the bag on me!” she whined.

“Ladybug!” another reported pushed his way through. “There’s only ten minutes until the surprise element is announced, are you prepared for it? Any tips on how to handle sewing and crafting under pressure?”

“Oh man, I’m really running out of time!” he giggled girlishly. “I learned from previous competitions to be prepared to learn to sew any sort of accessory on the fly! I did things like practice making gloves after the disaster a couple years ago to bringing a base to make a hat with me. I’m even going to be wearing my own heels that I made myself. I’m more than prepared for the surprise element this time! **_Bring it Gabriel Agreste!”_** she cheered.

She excused herself and yo-yo’d out of sight and snuck her way back into the bathroom.

At the judge booth Audrey Bourgeois was fuming. “Who does Ladybug think she is?”

Gabriel placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder if she simply didn’t hear the news yet.”

“I think she knew, I think she was protestin’!” said Jagged Stone with a cocky grin.

“If that’s so she’s foolish if she thinks we’ll reverse the decision just based on her testimony or whim.” Audrey crossed her arms defiantly.

Gabriel smirked. “You’re right as always, Bourgeois.” He said as he stood up. “But this time, I want to see what Ladybug thinks of the tables turning on her.”

Audrey cracked a grin. “I like the sound of that.”

Jagged Stone did in fact not like the sound of that.

Since the contest was being held at the Agreste mansion, his base was incredibly close and it only took him mere moments to reach his lair where he transformed and sent out an akuma. “So many negative emotions will be held today, go forth and find the most suitable target.”

Gabriele returned to his station at the judging booth as the surprise element was about to begin. Chloe was sitting still at her booth looking at the Ladyblog interview and smiling through her tears. _‘If only I’d just competed fairly…’_

It was no secret to Marinette that Chloe loved Ladybug, even though she took the bee miraculous from her years ago and Chloe declared her hatred for her. Now it was Marinette’s turn to brace herself and redo her make-up. The surprise element could be anything. Chloe stood up and looked around to see Marinette at her booth and approached her from behind.

“So,” she began casually. Marinette whipped her head around to face her. “How are you competing with no dress?”

“You destroyed my **_other_** dress, you didn’t get your claws on this one.” Marinette said with a huff and turned back to her make-up.

“It’d better be as beautiful as the first one was.” Was all Chloe said before returning back to her own booth. “Ladybug deserves it.” She added with a whisper that Marinette just barely caught.

Marinette stood up and shouted “Ladybug deserves to see your dress too, even if you can’t compete!” and gave a small sigh of relief as the other girl retreated. Like a hard-fought war between two countries was ending after a thousand years.

Adrien watched the whole scene unfold from his secret disguise at a booth a few spaces down from Marinette. He smiled warmly, Marinette was always such a super hero in her own everyday way. He was furious when he heard what Chloe did to Marinette, but reminded himself how strong she was and when he heard the news of her recovery and having a second dress, he realized that he was foolish for ever doubting her. _‘That’s my girl!’_ he praised her in his mind.

The announcer turned on the loud speaker with a few clicks and everyone’s attention turned to the front stage. **[Welcome all contestants! You have two minutes before the Surprise Element is announced. Once revealed all contestants will have thirty minutes to craft before the buzzer signals that time is out. Guards will patrol the booths to ensure that no one is being helped or had something pre-made. The guards will ask you questions about your craft, please do not refuse their answers as they can disqualify you on suspicion of cheating. To add more heat to the contest Adrien himself will be in disguise as one of the guards patrolling!]**

Many of the contestants gasped and began gossiping. Marinette’s face turned bright red. _‘Oh no, there’s no way I can craft a masterpiece under his gaze! I’ll spazz out and rip something or make a mess!_ ’

**[Ten seconds left before the reveal!]**

Marinette allowed the panic to set in after being so calm and collected this entire time. _‘Just when I thought I was ready for anything, the **real** surprise element was Adrien all along! I was absolutely not prepared for that!’_

**[The surprise element is…… Masqeurade! The ball theme is actually a masquerade! The timer starts now!]**

A few screams were heard and Marinette’s heart dropped, she had no face mask base to work with, she’d have to craft from cardboard. _‘Freaking **card board!?** Are you kidding me!?’_

As she cut her cardboard base she began to worry that her cheongsam may not be suitable ballroom attire afterall, masquerades were synonymous with big puffy dresses, not form fitting dresses. She had her base within a couple of minutes and began gluing fabric onto it along with some lace and beads. As she worked several guards stopped by her booth, none asking questions. One in particular did stop and hover for a moment but she ignored him. He cleared his throat and leaned in from behind her.

“I can’t wait to see the dress that matches!” the man said and she turned her head to see the blond haired, green eyed man that Chloe was screaming at earlier. She took note of his name tag that said ‘Andre’.

 _‘Chat Noir!’_ her mind reeled, she hadn’t decided if she was angry with Chat for spilling her secret or if she was relieved because it gave her the opportunity to put someone in their place.

“Are you using rhinestones?” he asked casually.

“Y-yes!” she answered quickly and turned back to the mask.

“Wasn’t your dress destroyed?” he asked.

“Yes, but I have another one.” She said flatly.

“Are you modeling it yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Is it still Ladybug inspired?”

 _‘Such a Chat Noir question!’_ she thought as she turned back to him. She backed up a bit when she noticed his rather handsome face was a bit closer to hers than previously thought. He too backed up a bit when realizing he was invading her personal space. “Yes.” She answered softly.

He took a step back feeling stupid for getting so close and making her uncomfortable. “Sorry, I’ll leave you be now!” he said as he moved on.

Several more guards passed before a tall blonde woman came to her stall and just stood behind her, smiling. Marinette could feel this woman’s eyes boring into the back of her head, agitated she whipped her head around to look her right in the eye and see if she had questions. Her heart froze when she locked eyes with this woman though. She blinked several times and the woman winked and smirked.

 _“Adrien?!”_ she whispered harshly. _“Why’re you dressed as a girl?”_

 _“It’s my disguise! I’ve never cross-dressed before, this is kind of fun!”_ he chuckled in a voice too deep for the average woman.

Marinette giggled back at him. _“Has anyone recognized you yet?”_

He shook his head ‘no’ with a cheeky grin.

 _“Are you going on the date like that?”_ she asked as she admired his long smoothly shaven legs in his solid white Sunday dress and heels. His blonde wig reached his wait and was curly.

 _“Of course not!”_ he laughed heartily. _“My father would kill me if he found out I’m wearing this. He thinks I’m patrolling in a man’s disguise. They even gave me a fake beard and mustache to wear and I just couldn’t bear to put it on. Oddly I was okay with this because it seemed like something fun to do just once.”_ He said as he did a courtesy and held up the sides of the dress exposing part of his boxer-briefs underneath by accident. She turned every shade of red and pink known to humanity as the sight of his underwear with that man-bulge underneath. They were both seniors over the age of eighteen, but this was still uncharted territory for her. Prom and graduation were right around the corner, and perhaps those choppy waters wouldn’t remain as uncharted by then. For now the ocean of adulthood was far from her mind, right now her mask was her primary concern.

 _“I’ll let you go now!”_ he said and she said her goodbyes to him.

 _‘Definitely not the surprise element I had in mind!’_ she thought to herself with a smile as she returned to her work.

**[Five minutes remaining!]**

She was done before most and even had time to make a hair pin to match the mask. She still had a second to breathe and just look around at everyone else and stretch. She was surprised to see Chloe actually working on a mask.

**[Time is up! All contestants please stand with your crafted item to be inspected for approval. After your inspection, please have your models dressed and ready for the stage.]**

Marinette was inspected and approved by Andre before closing her booth’s curtain and changing into her dress and heels. She took her twin tails and put them in high ponytails like she has them for Ladybug, just like the world famous Miku Hatsune does. She began wearing her hair as Ladybug differently than she did as Marinette after someone pointed out that the two had the same hairstyle a couple years ago. She put the mask and hair pin on and admired the full length cheongsam as it tickled her ankles. She made her way to the stage with many onlookers ogling her. She had quite a bit to go before it was her turn. In a sea of fluffy ballroom gowns she was one of only a handful of form-fitting dresses, and absolutely the only cheongsam.

 _‘At least I’ll stand out…which may or may not be good…_ ’she thought to herself as she waited her turn patiently. Many of the girls took more poses than allotted and the judges were getting annoyed. The contest was going slower than predicted, much slower than the previous year.

Adrien was swift to change back into his regular attire that he was instructed to wear that morning and sat down at the judging booth. He and his father did not exchange words, but he had a lively conversation with Jagged Stone about Ladybug being at the contest. Adrien was happy to talk to someone about Ladybug and how bold she was.

“Imagine picking Ladybug by accident and it being true love?” Jagged Stone said in a knowing tone.

Gabriel grimaced at the thought, but Adrien looked delighted. The next model showed her dress and Adrien wrote down his score for her. Several more models passed by, but none were the girl he was looking for.

“Juliette Auclair” Adrien mumbled and Gabriel turned his gaze to his son.

“Yes, she’s competing, but that’s not her.” He scowled as a redhead pranced on stage and posed a yellow gown and spin around.

“Oh, I knew it wasn’t! I was just looking for her.” Adrien said.

“Her, the one with long bluish-black hair in pigtails. That’s probably Juliette Auclair, she too mentioned a form-fitting dress instead of a traditional ballroom gown for the competition.” Gabriele pointed to Marinette unknowingly. “I believe she put her hair up like Ladybug for this event.”

Adrien’s eyes locked on Marinette, determined to find out if it really was Juliette or not. He stole glances at her when he could, but he job required that he at least look once at the models before him. Unbeknownst to him the real Juliette already came and went without his noticing. Juliette’s hair had been in a bun and not her usual low-twin ponytails and not a single judge noticed.

A deep shaking of the stage caused everyone in heels to lose their balance and many people holding cameras and other equipment fell over as well. Marinette remained upright as the second shockwave was sent surging through the ground. A massive beast loomed overhead the stage and roared. Adrien bolted behind stage to transform in his private booth.

 _‘An akuma? Right now?’_ Marinette panicked as she tried to get back to her booth where Tikki hid in her purse. The panicking crowd prevented her from going backstage and instead she was herded like cattle to the center of the audience where everyone clung together for dear life. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for Andre, secretly hoping he really was Chat Noir and he could stave off the akuma long enough for her to reach her booth.

The beast ripped the stage apart and roared “ **Where is she?** ”

Marinette didn’t know what to do, the akuma was picking up random girls, inspecting them, and tossing them to the side like dolls. Many of them sustaining serious injuries and screaming out in agony. Chat Noir appeared and began protecting the girls from the giant beast, but without Ladybug he was fighting an uphill battle. She had an idea, not a great one, but an idea none the less. At the very least only Andre, who was Chat Noir, would recognize her mask. That was something she’d have to deal with later, right now she had an akuma to fight.

“Everyone out of my way, I’m Ladybug and I need to get to my booth!” she yelled and like the parting of the sea people moved out of her way. She was able to swiftly make her way back to the booths and grab Tikki without anyone noticing which specific booth she’d lingered at for more than moment. She did her best to stop at several booths other than her own in case someone witnessed her. She was about to hide when the beast grabbed her and hoisted her up in the air. She struggled, but found she had no real strength when not transformed. The whole world watched as she yelled “Tikki, spots on!” and transformed into Ladybug.

Chat Noir watched in giddy glee as ‘Juliette’ transformed into his true love and freed herself from the beast’s grasp. He felt like he could cry tears of joy, but he knew that would have to wait until the fight, and possibly the contest too, was over. Ladybug wasted no time activating her lucky charm, she was given a small hairpin that looked like a bee. _‘Is this supposed to symbolize Chloe?’_ she thought curiously. _‘Wait, of course it is!’_

“Chat, where is Chloe Bourgeois?” Ladybug asked and he gave her a confused look.

“Somewhere in the crowd I’d assume, but why Chloe?” he asked with a bit of sass.

“Her costume is based on Beauty and the Beast! The akuma is the beast, she’s the beauty! He’s looking for Chloe!” she exclaimed.

“Ohhh!” Chat said then looked all around to find her, but couldn’t. “She was disqualified right? Would she even be in her gown?”

“I saw her in it earlier, I think she just wanted to show me her dress even if she couldn’t compete.” Ladybug explained before charging at the beast to intercept him grabbing another girl.

Chat sped off to search the booths to find Chloe sitting alone in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. He kneeled down beside her and softly asked “Do you know who you upset to turn them into an akuma? It could help us defeat them.”

“I told Sabrina’s cousin that I was going to the ball as Belle and he could be my Beast if I didn’t win the date with Adrikins.” She said through a sniffle. “But he’ll never get to see me on stage anyways, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Did he have any items on him that could be where the akuma is hiding?” Chat asked gently.

“Well, he has a bowtie on that was a family heirloom, it has their crest on it.” She told him as she looked up at him and he smiled back at her.

“Thank you, do you mind helping us out?” he asked as he stood up and offered his hand to her.

“Why would you want my help? I’ve done nothing but hurt Ladybug in the past, I don’t even know why she cared to see my dress.” Chloe turned her head away from him in defiance.

“Because she heard how beautiful your dress was and Belle was her favorite Disney princess growing up.” He said and she remained silent. “ _You’ll get to be on center staaaaaage!”_ he sang out.

She looked up at him then grabbed his outstretched hand. “Okay, but only because I deserve to be on stage in this dress at least once!” she huffed and he picked her up bridal style and carried her to the stage where Ladybug was fending off the huge beast.

Chat posed on stage with Chloe in his arms and shouted, “Oh Beast! I’ve got Belle!”

The world watched from live television as Chloe was set down on stage in her pristine, glittering dress and she walked up to the beast and laid a hand on his giant monstrous leg. She looked up at him through her mask and he looked down at her with such a soft expression. He shifted to hold her hands and he shrunk slowly down to a reasonable size, small enough to properly hug her. She grabbed his bow tie and threw it to Ladybug who stomped on it, releasing the akuma. After cleansing the akuma and letting the butterfly go, she threw the bee comb into the air and repaired all the damage and injuries done.

There stood Belle with her not-so Beast, a shy redheaded senior from their school in a century old bowtie. He kneeled before her and asked for a dance, completely turning out that the contest was supposed to still be going on or the fact that an akuma had just attacked. Ladybug smiled at the sight of Chloe waltzing with her new man before letting her transformation fall on live-television. She reverted back to Marinette in her masquerade. Chat grinned from ear to ear and ran for cover to let his disguise fall as well.

For the rest of the judging Marinette was referred to as Ladybug and refused to show her contestant number to anyone, which was the only thing tying her to her true identity. When she got to the judging booth she was greeted by Adrien personally who shook her hand and thanked her for saving the day. She outstretched her arms for a hug and he accepted it and pulled her in tightly.

 _“My lady,”_ he whispered softly.


	3. Chapter 3

Eyes and Lies on the Prize

Ch. 3 – Where it all began to go so terribly, terribly wrong.

Chloe and her friend sat in the audience as they held hands and watched the final contestants line up. Only four made it to the final round; Marinette, Juliette, and two others. Adrien knew the girl in the blue gown with her hair in a bun must be Marinette, and as much as he’d like her to win he wanted a date with Ladybug, _his lady_.

**[Without further ado, Adrien Agreste himself shall announce the winner of the annual Agreste Fashion Contest!]**

Adrien took the stage and turned to the four girls. “I didn’t expect that the four finalists would be the ones who also modeled their own dresses, it kind of makes this a bit easier on me than last year’s swimsuit contest!” he joked and the audience laughed with him. “Luckily I wasn’t going to date any of the models, that wouldn’t have gone well either.” He laughed out and the audience laughed with him again.

After the laughs died down and he took a deep breath, he found the courage to speak again.

“The winner is Ladybug!” he said as he pointed at Marinette. “To you other three wonderful contestants you did an excellent job! It was a tough decision, but nobody can compare to the real Ladybug!”

The crowd erupted and the viewers on the ladyblog lost their minds. Marinette’s face turned bright red and she froze as he made his way over to her with that heart warming smile he always showed her. He kneeled before her and asked “Will you go on a date with me, my lady?”

All Marinette could do was nod her head yes and stutter out a “Mmmm…mmmhhhmmmm…” as Adrien offered his hand to her and she took it. The contestants cleared out as the judges scrambled to figure out which contestant Ladybug actually was. Gabriele in particular was desperate to find out as he began flipping through file after file madly. He was certain that it was the Auclaire girl, it just had to be!

Adrien and Marinette held hands backstage as both turned bright red at the thought of about to being on a date. Adrien lead her down the hall and to a private room to talk.

“So, let me guess, you didn’t actually even apply to compete, did you?” he asked with a sigh, knowing her identity would yet still escape him. “I bet you didn’t even register, you probably showed up for the fun of it and-“

“I registered under my real name.” she said abruptly and rather rudely, catching him off guard. “I didn’t want to enter this contest as Ladybug, it happened because Chat Noir, one of **your** close friends blabbed to you then you turned around and told the media and press!”

Guilt stabbed Adrien in the chest, the feeling was very akin to hearing the news of his mother for the first time. Tears threatened to well up in his eyes, but he held back hoping to salvage the situation. _‘Great, she’s mad at Chat Noir **and** Adrien!’ _he thought in misery.

“I’m so sorry.” Was all he said and he looked at the ground.

“Were you aware of Chat Noir’s real identity or that he’s one of friends or your father’s henchmen?” she asked pensively, awaiting the nail in the coffin.

“No.” he half-lied. In truth, no one knew who Chat Noir was, and he figured she’d be even more upset if someone did know. “I’m not even sure I know anyone that could possibly be him.”

“The Ladyblog claims the source of the leak was from **you**. How did you find out?” she asked feeling herself calm down a bit.

He knew that the only thing that could fix this situation was the truth, and so be it. “Juliette, I’m sorry!” he cried out. “I didn’t mean to tell anyone, but my father is terrifying and he made me-“

“Jul…iette…?” she asked perplexed. She blinked at him several times, processing his words.

“Huh?” was the only noise he made.

“You think I’m Juliette?” she asked.

“Eh?” again he was unable to form a proper word.

“You called me _Juliette_.” She said flatly, all anger dissipating. “Why?”

“Y-you mean…you’re not Juliette Auclair?” he asked in almost horror.

“No, and even if I was, I wouldn’t tell you that.” She said with a worried tone. “Did you mean to pick Juliette Auclair as the winner?”

“No!” he said rather loudly. “I meant to pick you! You won fair and square!”

“Then I don’t understand why you thought I was Juliette….” Marinette wanted to cry, she couldn’t win Adrien’s heart even as Ladybug.

“That was just today alone I thought you were Juliette! During the contest one of the other judges told me that you were her and I believed them. I’m so stupid to even think it now!” Adrien crouched down on his knees and grabbed the sides of his head.

Marinette felt badly for him, he was probably just as lost and confused as she was. She sighed loudly letting the exhausting experiences of the day flow through her and out her mouth. “I forgive you!” she said with a sigh of relief. “Adrien, I’m not mad at you.”

“R-really?” he asked through teary eyes from the ground.

“Really!” she said as she walked up to him and crouched next to him, allowing her dress to touch the floor. “I was just so scared my real identity was put at stake. If Hawkmoth finds out who I am he can use that against me and stalk me in my civilian life.”

“That’s right, and for the next six hours you’re basically exposed.” He said in realization of what he’d done.

She stood up and offered him her hand, he took it and stood up as well. “Don’t we have a date to go on?” she asked expectantly and he nodded.

They returned to the contest hall where many pictures were taken for the magazine and news media. Marinette made sure to give Alya the biggest scoop and the most pictures. After multiple interviews and discussions, the two were sent on their way for their evening date. Adrien went to get changed while Marinette waited with the other judges in the contest hall. Gabriel did try to pry a bit knowing he had Ladybug in his clutches, but she wasn’t budging or answering a single question about her personal life. She chose to remain simply known as ‘Ladybug’ for the magazine and declined to give her contestant number. As she shook hands with the judges and photographers while Adrien changed into his formal attire a certain somebody caught her eye.

Andre stood coolly off to the side starting at her with a knowing glare. He waggled his finger at her in a ‘come here’ motion, something very Chat-like her opinion and her eyes went wide. _‘Chat Noir has totally seen me as Marinette many times and this guy saw me making this mask. He absolutely knows who I am now! Oh no….’_

She walked up to him calmly and looked him firmly in the eyes. “Well?”

“Found you!” Andre grinned. Marinette’s heart slammed in her chest, Chat Noir discovered her real identity.

“I’m mad at you!” she huffed and crossed her arms.

He looked genuinely confused. “Why?”

“This is all your fault!” she cried out.

“Wait, what’s my fault? That I found out your identity? You did that!” he said back desperately. “I didn’t make you transform in public! Besides I won’t tell anyone who you are!” Andre tried to soothe her.

“You promise?” she almost cried at the thought.

“I promise on my life that your identity is safe with me!”

“And no hitting on me in my private life, got it?” she added.

“I can’t even ask you on a date?” he whined with his best puppy eyes.

“No! I’m about to go on a date with Adrien Agreste!” she hissed.

“Damn, I was planning on asking you out after the contest even before I found out you were Ladybug….” He groaned and slumped down to the floor. “You were such a cutie patootie and everything!”

“Do you just ask out **every** cute girl you see?” she asked flabbergasted. The nerve of him!

“Hey, you miss one hundred percent of shots you don’t take!” he shrugged. “If she’s cute I’ll ask her out! I’ve gotten loads of numbers that way!” he said a little too happily for her liking. “I really liked the way you pout, too. Makes me wanna make you pout even more.” He added with a slight smirk and a tilt of his head as he peered directly into her eyes.

“That makes me incredibly uncomfortable…” she said through grit teeth and a look a disgust.

“And **that** makes me _excited_.” He whispered as he inched closer to her. She backed up in slight fear.

“I can see why you’re still single!” she sneered down as him and stormed off.

 _‘Chat I can’t believe you’re such a jerk! Adrien deserves better friends than you!’_ she thought as he rounded the corner to see Adrien in his tuxedo, black masquerade mask, and bowler hat that she made him all those years ago. All thoughts about Chat Noir left her mind as she was greeted by her one true love and she made her way to his side. When he offered his arm she took it and wrapped herself around it lovingly. Adrien’s knees almost buckled, but he held himself together with all his fortitude. Somehow her rage at Chat Noir helped smother her nerves, or perhaps it was because she was technically ‘Ladybug’ right now that empowered her. Regardless she was able to keep calm long enough to let him lead her to the limousine that would escort them to the restaurant.

Once seated they saw the cake her parents made waiting for her with ‘Ladybug’ in big red letters in cursive. After a light dinner and cake, they danced at the restaurant. At first it was a slow waltz but quickly it turned into the tango, something neither of them had done before. They somehow managed to learn from watching the other patrons go crazy on the dancefloor. She would spin and he’d catch her, then he would grab her by the hands and spin them around together and let her go free to spin by herself before pulling her back in. Their faces came dangerously close many times, but on that last fateful spin their noses touched and something was lit flame; _something adulterous_. They danced for a good hour and worked up quite the sweat before sitting back down and cooling off.

As they laughed together at the table, they locked eyes, the forest met the sky and sea, emeralds through his black mask and sapphires through her red mask. For a small second, she was reminded of Chat Noir and something thumped in her heart, something sad and a bit lovesick. She swallowed that feeling and scooted her chair closer to his to put her onyx heels up against his leg sexily. She just _barely_ touched his leg, just enough to let him know she was _right there_. Not just barely _out_ of his reach, but just barely _in_ his reach. A shiver went through him and he wasn’t sure if it was his sweat cooling on his skin or if it was his soulmate being playful with him. He fought back a grin and instead chose to speak.

“We have free time until the fireworks in a couple of hours, want to stroll Paris with me?” he asked smoothly.

“I’d love to!” she said and allowed him to basically scoop her into his arm and pull her up alongside his body as they walked out together. He loved the feeling of his lady being so close to him as they walked through the streets at dusk. Of course, the place was swarming with paparazzi and onlookers, but they didn’t care. The Agreste security was able to hold them off long enough to get lost in the crowd. Granted they still stuck out like a sore thumb and within moments they were caught by a random reporter here and there.

“I’ve got an idea!” She said before transforming and grabbing him to yo-yo off somewhere secluded faster than anyone could chase them. She left him alone in an ally while she went home and changed into regular clothes and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and jacket for him. She took a couple Japanese Kabuki fox masks from her wall décor and put one on. She made her way back to him and let him change into the sweats and mask. She hid the tuxedo and dress in the alley in one of her designated hiding places for instances just like this one. They then walked through the busy Paris streets at dusk in plain sight, only catching a few estranged glances from people.

He led her to the fireworks location, the park, and texted his father that he was okay and to let the fireworks continue. He sat down on the grass and she sat next to him with her head on his shoulder. As the sun dipped below the horizon the fireworks began slowly. He snaked his arm around her waist and she did the same around his lower back. She could have fallen asleep like this if it weren’t for the loud booming of the fireworks. They had idle chit chat about their favorite this or their least favorite that, a few coos and sighs about daily life stresses and how hard their jobs were. As the grand finale picked up she leaned off of him and looked up in awe.

“I love you.” He said as both of them had their eyes locked to the skies.

“Wh-what?” she asked, unsure if she’d heard him correctly.

“I’ve always loved you.” He said with his masked face still pointing at the sky.

“Really?” she turned to face him directly and he pointed his face to her.

“You came to the spotlight and into my life when I needed you the most. It doesn’t matter that we were never able to speak much or that we hardly knew each other, I felt this intense connection to you that I’ve been unable to find with any other woman.” He said as he trembled slightly. “I can’t count how many women I’ve turned down in my life in my pursuit for just a chance with you. Then to think you came running to me in a contest.”

He laughed, but she looked at him in awe and admiration, not that he could see it through the masks. “Do you really mean that?” she asked with her hands clasped together.

“I do.” He said softly. “Ladybug, I love you.” He said again.

She reached up to his mask and pulled it off to see his teary eyes and boldened expression. “Close your eyes.” She instructed. For a moment his eyes opened wider, but then he obliged and closed them. The wind whipped his hand around a bit and she placed her hand on his cheek. “Whatever you do, do not open your eyes. No matter what.” She ordered and he nodded.

He could hear her mask being removed and being set down atop his own, wood met wood in that familiar clunking noise. His lower lip quivered knowing that Ladybug’s exposed face was right in front of him and knowing exactly what was coming next. This wasn’t the first time he’d had his eyes closed with her right in front of him like this, a few times actually. But this was the one moment he felt the most vulnerable. Her other hand made it to his other cheek and her thumbs caressed him softly before her hands pulled him in closer and her nose touched his. She left them there like that for a moment before giggling softly, her breath tickling his lips as he anticipated his first kiss, that he would be allowed to remember, with his soulmate. She inched closer until her lips were almost on his and whispered to him.

_“I’ve always loved you too.”_

Their lips met very gently and softly at first. Adrien hadn’t heard those words in so long and they both crushed him with their weight and relieved him from a half-decade of pain. He reached up and let his hands land wherever they chose, which happened to be one on her cheek and the other atop her hand on his own cheek. He interlaced the fingers of their hands and pulled it away from his face to hold it tightly as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. She reciprocated by leaning into him and parting her lips, an invitation he did not intend to decline.

As their passion went on for a short while the fireworks began to die down as the finale ended. Hey parted and she clasped her hand over his eyes and put her mask back on. When she removed her hand, she put his mask back on for him. “You can open them now.”

When he opened his eyes again, he was met with the sight of his masked lady snuggling up against him again, this time she was much lower and had her head on his chest and her arm around his torso. He draped his arms around her back. He sighed deeply, content with the feeling of her weight against him. It was an entirely inexplainable feeling to have someone lean on you so lovingly. He relished it while it lasted. The fireworks were long gone and they just sat there on the grassy park talking about life. It was well past midnight and all the reporters retired for the day long ago.

“So, when did you first start liking me?” he asked as he rubbed her upper back affectionately.

“In my freshman year of high school.” She said as she returned the affection by squeezing him in her embrace. “I had posters of you all over my bedroom, in fact I still do! They’re just more professional photos instead of magazine tear outs and newspaper clippings.” She giggled.

“Oh jeez, you were an original school girl, weren’t you?” he laughed. “I didn’t expect that from the always so serious Ladybug.”

“I was indeed straight up an Adrien Agreste high school fan girl, crazed and all!” she said as she nestled her head into his chest.

“I was a Ladybug fanboy myself. I even have action figures and all the video games they made. I won’t lie, I’ve read a few fanfiction myself. Even **those** kinds!” he laughed loudly and her head shot up of his chest and she flung herself backwards into the grassy knoll.

“I did that too! I’ve read some **very detailed** online stories about you! Probably just as dirty as the ones you read about me even!” she confessed as she rolled around in embarrassment. He leaned over her and pressed the nose of his mask up to hers and held it there in silence for a moment.

“What’re you doing?” she asked.

“Kissing you in my mind, because these masks are in the way.” He said and she rolled away from him with a laugh. “I’d give anything for another kiss like that first one.”

She got up and started running from him, giggling madly. “Come get it!” She hollered and he shot up and chased after her into the park’s maze. At this hour the maze was almost completely dark except for a few dim lights on the ground lining the maze path. He managed to hear where she was approximately and followed her deep into the maze’s core. She made a left, he followed, she made a right, he followed, only a couple steps behind. Before they knew it they were both totally lost, but neither felt helpless or alone. After a few moments of heavy breathing and panting they found one another in the near-total darkness, only their feet and lower legs truly visible, all else was a dark blur of shapes.

She removed his mask again and couldn’t distinguish who he even was. She took her mask off too and let both fall to the ground. “Well?” he asked with his hands on his hips. “I came all the way here fo-“

Her arms flew around his neck and her lips crashed onto his like meteors hitting the moon. His arms wrapped around her back and pulled her in. Her mouth opened instantly and let his tongue inside to dance with her once more. They shared a whole new tango together as they unleashed over five years of pent-up passion upon one another. The broke apart multiple times to speak sweet nothings before stealing another kiss.

“How do you feel about…you know…” he began and she gave him the space to speak freely. “You know….” He paused again. She stroked his cheek with her thumb in a soothing manner and it gave him the confidence to finish the question. He took a deep breath and asked “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“I…” she paused, pulling away from him and putting a few inches between them. “I don’t know if I can go public like that.” She said sadly.

His heart sank, knowing it was too good to be true. “Not ever? You’re not allowed to ever date or get married ever?” he asked with a whimper.

“Not until Hawkmoth is defeated.” She said with her bravest tone she could muster. “Once Hawkmoth is defeated and his miraculous back in the box I can date you openly as Ladybug.”

“Really!?” the excitement in his voice reminded her of Chat Noir and something wrapped itself around her chest, all sort of emotions gripped her all at once. “If you and Chat Noir can defeat Hawkmoth, we can be together?”

“Y-yes!” she said then took a deep breath to continue speaking clearly. “But don’t get your hopes up anytime soon, he’s managed to escape Chat Noir and I for the last five years.”

“But the older you get the stronger you got, I thought?” he asked. “Isn’t that what the Ladyblog says?”

Unbeknownst to him she had wrinkled her nose at him. “How would the Ladyblog know that, I wonder?” she pondered out loud. “Only Chat and I knew that I thought…”

Adrien’s heart raced thinking for a lie to get himself out of a rabbit hole he started. “Uhh, maybe it’s just a fan theory?” he asked nervously and she made a noise of agreement.

“Well I can confirm that Chat Noir and I get stronger with every akuma attack, and it’s entirely plausible that we could catch a lucky break and defeat him any day.” She said softly trying to soothe him, sensing his uneasiness.

“Well hopefully we- I mean you guys-“

Suddenly, Adrien’s phone rang and he saw the caller, his face dropped. Only his own face was illuminated by the light and she could see the sorrow in his eyes as he stared at the screen.

Reluctantly he answered it. “Hello?”

“Adrien, it’s nearly one in the morning, where in the blazes are you?” his father said angrily into the phone. Marinette could hear it.

“I’m sorry, I lost track of time talking to Ladybug, I promise you I’m safe with her.” He assured him.

“I’m sure you are safe, that’s not the problem. You need your rest for fencing lessons tomorrow. Come home at once!” he ordered.

“I understand….” He said sluggishly and hung up. They began making their way out of the maze with their masks back on holding hands.

“Man, he’s bossy!” she whined. “How do you handle that?”

“It’s not easy, I’ve honestly been thinking about moving out and breaking off from his brand label. I have the money and namesake to do it too. I just can’t stand the idea of just not having a family anymore. So I tolerate it just to not be alone.” He said with a stab of sorrow in his voice. They made it back to the entrance of the maze and she stopped walking while gripping his hand tightly.

“Maybe someday you and I will be family.” She said wistfully. The idea swirled in his head wildly and the more he thought about it the more he wanted it.

 **He craved it**.

Adrien craved love and freedom, and Ladybug was both of those things to him.

“An apartment in Paris…” he mumbled.

“With a balcony overlooking the city.” She added.

“And a hamster named-“

“Hey you two!” a man shouted and pointed his flashlight at them. “No one is allowed in the park after midnight, go home!”

“Y-yes! We’re sorry!” She said in shock.

“We got lost for a very long time, we intended to leave on time!” he lied.

“The damn maze only has like twenty walls, how do you get lost for an hour?” the man shook his head dismissively. “Damn teens drunk on midnight love.”

They giggled as they took off sprinting out of the park, the night fog shrouding their feet at they took off down the dark, empty streets of Paris. Once they made it to the main street they noticed that there was almost no traffic and they were entirely alone. A few trickles of rain began to fall and they knew they were in for a shower if they didn’t hurry.

But why hurry? Why rush off faster to a place neither of them wanted to be?

He couldn’t convince his feet to move faster and neither could she. The rain picked up as they turned a wrong corner and headed in the opposite direction of his house. Neither said a word, and both certainly noticed. He gripped her hand tightly as the warm summer raid began to soak them both gently. Her white dress and dark hair plastered to her body and his heavy sweat pants and jacket began to sag. Again, they turned another wrong corner, furthering them from his house. They continued to make random turns and ignoring all street signs telling them where they were. She snuggled into his arm, both soaked to the core, but completely content. As two in the morning rolled around his phone rang again and he pressed the red X button to hang up. It rang again and he turned his phone off.

Finally his feet stopped, he didn’t even know why, he didn’t instantly recognize where they were. “Hm?” she made a soft noise and looked around to see they were at the Dupain-Cheng bakery. “Why here?” she asked almost fearfully.

“I don’t know, sometimes when I escape and walk alone my legs bring me here. I never understand why though.” He said as he looked up at the dark building in wonder.

 _‘He really does feel a connection to me…’_ she thought as she turned her sights to her own balcony.

“An apartment downtown, with a balcony overlooking the city.” He mumbled. “Maybe that’s why I come here.”

“Or maybe you’re just hungry!” she giggled and nudged into him.

“Or that.” He said simply, then a moment later he felt his stomach agree. “Yeah, definitely hungry!”

“I know a place open all night, me and some friends used to sneak out and go there in the middle of the night. Now we just go there without the sneaking part!” she said cheerfully.

“That sounds amazing.” He said, but then he realized something. “But our masks.”

“Oh…right….” She mumbled, all of the excitement drained from her voice.

“Well, we can get food to go and find somewhere to go alone and eat. I promise I won’t peek!” he offered and she agreed.

They entered the café and realized they were so soaked that it was unwise to track so much water through their restaurant. Also being masked made them look highly suspicious and the other patrons and staff gave them curious glances, one picked up a phone, clearly ready to call the authorities.

“No please!” Adrien begged and took his mask off. “I’m just hiding from the paparazzi, I’m Adrien Agreste!” he pleaded. The woman put the phone down and smiled at him in relief.

“Go ahead and have a seat, hun!” she said warmly.

“Adrien!” came a familiar voice. “Yo buddy!”

“Nino?” he asked in delight. “What are you two doing here?” he asked with a wave to Alya.

“Wait a minute, _who is that_?” Alya asked pointing at Marinette. Adrien turned to face her before turning back to Alya and nodding his head ‘yes’ at her with a smirk.

“ ** _Ladybug?_** ” Alya whispered and Adrien nodded even harder, his expression even sassier than before. Alya’s excitement went into overdrive.

“Come, sit!” She offered to Ladybug who cautiously took the seat next her friend.

“What are you two doing out here in the raid in these masks?” Nino asked with a chuckle. “Nevermind, don’t answer the mask part, but for real, what’re you guys doing out in the rain at this hour?”

“Planning our future together.” Adrien smirked over at Ladybug who remained perfectly still and silent.

Alya’s grin fell slowly. She turned her gaze to Ladybug whose hair was completely free from all restraints and was clinging to her back all down to her waist. She didn’t look like she was having much fun, and began to worry that Adrien might’ve been abusing his date with her. She leaned into the masked girl’s side and whispered to her.

 _“Are you okay? Do you need a ride somewhere?”_ Alya offered quietly so that the joking boys couldn’t hear.

 _‘You’re such a good person Alya!’_ Marinette thought.

“Oh I’m okay, we just got lost in our conversation and decided the rain wasn’t cold enough to stop us.” Ladybug said not in a whisper at all. “I just don’t know how I’m doing to eat like this.”

“Well…” Alya thought with her arms crossed. “We could get our food to go and sit somewhere private?”

“That was my idea!” Adrien whined.

Their got their food to go and all piled into Alya’s car. Adrien and Ladybug had to sit on spare blankets she pulled out of the trunk. As they drove off to a parking lot and ate in the darkness Nino and Alya kept their gaze straight ahead while Adrien did his best not to look over to his side at her. This was the riskiest near-exposure she’s ever had and it was making her incredibly nervous.

Alya broke the thick ice in the room. “So, has anyone heard from Marinette since the contest?”

Adrien’s heart did backflips and he almost choked on his food. He abandoned her on stage. He didn’t pick his own friend to win, he chose Ladybug. Then no one ever heard from Marinette Dupain-Cheng ever again and they had to hold her funeral because she threw herself off the London Bridge after running away to start a new lif-

“Oh she’s fine,” Ladybug said dismissively. “After the contest was over while Adrien changed clothes I ran into her and she said she was going to a relative’s house to unwind.”

“Oh thank god!” Adrien let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Were you worried about her?” Ladybug asked.

“I feel horrible! She was one of the final contestants and I…..I didn’t pick her…”

“No she wasn’t.” Alya replied bluntly front the front seat. “Marinette didn’t even make it to the preliminaries.”

“Wait, wasn’t it Ladybug, Marinette, and those other two girls from London that were the final four?” Adrien asked.

“No, it was Ladybug, _Juliette Auclair_ , and the two London sisters.” Alya said and pulled up a picture of the final four contestants and showed her phone over her shoulder at Adrien without looking back.

“Isn’t that Marienette next to Ladybug? The one with the bun and the blue tight dress?” Adrien asked as he squinted at the screen.

“Nope, that’s Juliette Auclair.” She said deadpan at him.

Adrien blinked. “Well now I’m glad I picked Ladybug over her, I almost picked her just because I thought she was Marinette. Damn masquerade masks!”

Ladybug chuckled to herself. _‘I guess I was going to win the contest no matter what!’_

“What’s so funny?” Adrien asked without looking in her direction.

“Nothing, I just think she’d be happy to hear that is all.” Ladybug said through her laughter.

“Alright, I think it’s bedtime for all of us!” Alya stretched and started the car. ‘Where do you guys wanna go?”

Neither Adrien nor Ladybug answered.

“Guys?” Alya asked again.

“Not home.” Adrien said.

“Oooh, are you two gonna get a hotel room?” Nino asked with a tongue in his cheek and Adrien smirked at the thought.

“I don’t know where else we could go.” Ladybug said sadly.

“Okay.” Alya turned the car off again. “What’s going on with you two?”

“We’re not officially dating yet,” Ladybug explained. “and he can’t learn my real identity.”

“Wanna elope?” Adrien asked and Ladybug’s eyes almost popped out of her skull.

“That would require my real identity getting leaked.” She said in a slight panic.

Alya heart sank, her best friend’s five year crush was involved with another woman. Probably why Marinette went to visit a relative, to get her focus off of Adrien and Ladybug.

“We don’t have to get married until after you and Chat Noir defeat Hawkmoth, so there’s no need for your real identity.” He said sincerely.

“Are you going to tell your father that you’re leaving his brand and moving out?” she asked in return.

It was at this point that Alya and Nino realized that they were witnessing a very dramatic moment in both Adrien and Ladybug’s lives. Not simply two teenagers courting, but two high profile people, a super model and a super hero, about to change their whole lives in one conversation.

“Oh shit, this is serious. This isn’t puppy love, you two are serious about this.” Alya said suddenly very aware of her presence being an intrusion at this point.

“It’s okay Alya, this conversation pretty much already happened once earlier. We just haven’t decided what to do yet.” Ladybug assured her.

“Well I’m gonna drive around until you guys figure it out.” Alya said as she turned the car on and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main street. Where she was heading she didn’t know, but it certainly wasn’t in the direction of the Agreste mansion.

“Wait a minute!” Nino suddenly said, getting everyone else’s attention. “Why doesn’t Ladybug just transform into Ladybug?”

“Hey yeah! We’re all alone here!” Alya said.

“I guess that makes sense.” Ladybug said before transforming and Adrien turned to look at her for the first time in over an hour, he’d already missed just looking in her general direction. She was suddenly very dry and her hair redone in her iconic Miku tails.

It was surreal to all three of them, and very estranged to Ladybug herself. Just the aspect that Ladybug was in the car with them as they drove around Paris was unusual, yet very comfortable to them. Ladybug felt like she was going to slip up and say something that only Marinette would know. As Alya turned onto the highway leading out of Paris and towards a smaller town just outside. The car was silent except for the car’s blinker and the rain pelting the car.

“So…” Nino spoke up. “Wanna stop at a convenience store, buy a bunch of junk food, rent a hotel room and just hang out all night?”

“Oh hell yeah!” Alya said and sped up a bit, she’d been going well under the speed limited since she had no clear destination.

“That sounds fun.” Ladybug said softly.

They stopped at the first convenience store they found and the look on the clerk’s face was priceless as he watched two teenagers followed by Ladybug and Adrien Agreste come in and buy over two hundred euros worth of junk food and drinks. As they filled Alya’s trunk and back seat they had to GPS a motel and Nino had to put it on his card to keep the situation as low profile as possible. Alya parked right in front of the motel door to keep the distance Adrien and Ladybug had to travel to a minimum. They intentionally chose a motel for the sake of the bedroom door being outside the building and not having the two high profile people cross through a lobby with other people and security cameras.

“I owe you big time for this buddy!” Adrien clasped his hands together and Nino waved it off.

“Anything for friends man!” Nino said as he slid the card key in and opened the door to the room.

The door opened and they were greeted with the sight of a pleasantly clean, but very basic quality, motel room. Adrien and Ladybug snuck inside quickly to avoid any onlookers while Alya and Nino dragged the goods inside. There were two full sized beds, not too big, not too small. Alya and Nino claimed the bed by the door while Ladybug and Adrien settled onto the bed by the bathroom. Adrien stripped himself of his sweats and put on the hotel robe so his clothes could hang dry. Ladybug was glad she didn’t have this same problem in her waterproof suit.

Nino was the first to rip open a bag of chips and start munching. Alya dove into the chocolates, while Ladybug opened a soda pop. Adrien looked down at all the junk food in awe, unsure what to eat first. Junk food was a rare luxury in his life. He settled for a pack of cookies that he’d never seen before and popped one in his mouth. His eyes nearly watered at how delicious they were.

“Man, your dad doesn’t let you eat **anything** , does he?” Nino laughed at his always-starving friend.

Adrien shook his head feverishly as he put another delicious cookie in his mouth. “He did once try to put me on a protein diet and tell me to start working out, I told him I’d appeal to the wrong audience if I did that.”

“What audience?” Nino asked entirely confused by the notion.

“You’re _clearly_ not that type of audience…” Adrien laughed.

Nino tilted his head in sheer and utter dismay. “Huh?!”

“Gay, Nino.” Alya laughed deeply. “You’re not gay.”

“Ohhhhh!” Nino stifled a laugh. “You don’t’ know that! I could secretly be hella gay for Adrien! Maybe that’s why we’re friends, ever think of that Alya?”

“Oh Nino!” Adrien feigned a swoon and fell into Nino’s arms, his bare leg up in the air free of the robe. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Nino pet Adrien’s damp hair and made a kissy face and sound at him.

“No homo.” Adrien whispered before leaning back up.

Nino pulled him back down. “No, there **will** be homo, get back here pretty boy!”

Adrien shot up back and scrambled to get away from him, his screams rather high pitch for a male in his late stage of puberty.

The boys burst out laughing and Ladybug and Alya just looked at each other. “Oh I see how it is.” Alya started as she turned to Ladybug. “Gurl, we got some content for the Ladyblog to make, come here!” she crawled onto Ladybug’s bed and toppled over on her, both giggling madly. The boys watched feverishly, awaiting something else to happen next. When Alya rolled off their hearts sank a bit, but ultimately, they knew nothing was going to happen anyways.

As they settled down, they pushed the beds together so that all four could face each other. They played cards, taught Adrien how to gamble using candy pieces as poker chips, and even played a few rounds of games Adrien had never even heard of. When they got bored of card games they switched to a new game, a much more fun game.

“Truth or dare? With Ladybug?” Adrien asked. “That’s a bit dangerous!”

“I know!” Alya squealed, “That’s what makes it so much fun! Person who won the most poker games goes first!” she declared.

“That’s you, of course!” Nino sighed out.

“Perfect!” Alya clapped her hands together once before turning her gaze to Nino. “I guess I won’t pick on Ladybug the first round, so I’ll go with Nino first, truth or dare?”

“Dare, your truths are evil as shit.”

“I dare you to actually kiss Adrien, _on the lips_.” She said as she took an extra crunch potato chip into her mouth and pointed at her lips.

“Augh! Girl, you kill me sometimes!” Nino said as he leaned forwards towards Adrien whose face turned redder than Ladybug’s suit.

“Woah wait, you **_actually_** gotta do this stuff?” Adrien leaned back away from him. “For real?” Nino nodded and Adrien nodded back in acceptance.

“Yup, sadly, gotta do what the woman demands!” Nino said out and grabbed Adrien by the back of the head by his hair and shouted “Full homo!” before planting his lips firmly on Adrien’s surprisingly soft and moist lips. Alya and Ladybug stared in both delight and surprise as the kiss lasted a whole few seconds rather than a quick peck like they were expecting. Adrien squirmed under the strange kiss and when Nino retreated, he screamed out in shame.

“Why oh why didn’t I just go home to my dad’s prison?” Adrien panted out jokingly.

“Well done!” Alya praised her man who glowed with pride. “Now it’s your turn, babe.”

“Nino,” Adrien said haggardly as he repositioned himself upright. “Make this bitch pay!”

Ladybug’s eyes widened and Alya grinned like the villain she secretly was.

“Alya, truth or dare?” Nino asked.

“Dare.” She said boldly.

“Do I even have to say it?” Nino said and Ladybug froze. Alya smirked and locked eyes with her target.

Ladybug knew exactly what was coming next and allowed it to happen, she braced herself for how aggressive Alya might be. The two girls were no strangers to kissing, they used to practice on each other back in the day. Marinette was used to how rough Alya was before she and Nino actually started going at each other. Surprisingly Alya didn’t grab her full force like Nino did Adrien, instead she opted for hovering over her and placing an open mouth over Ladybug’s and begging for entrance right away. Something curious in the recesses of Ladybug’s mind allowed this to happen and let Alya’s tongue inside. As Alya shifted so that she was letting some of her weight lay on Ladybug’s lower body, Ladybug’s arms instinctively pulled Alya in closer in a hug. All the boys could do was watch as something magical unfolded in front of them.

“I am so glad we’re not drinking alcohol tonight, because I never wanna forget what I’m witnessing right now.” Nino said as a perverse grin spread across his face. Adrien nodded his head, significantly more innocent than Nino was at these things. Adrien make a mental note to look up fanfiction of Ladybug and the Ladyblogger later.

As they two girls pulled away from each other Ladybug looked up at Alya and said “This does **not** go on the Ladyblog! I’ll never heard the end of it from Chat Noir!”

Alya resumed her original position and agreed. “So I guess I get to go next again. Ladybug, truth or dare?”

“Truth, enough dares for now please.” She said covering her mouth.

“Have you ever kissed a girl before just now?” Alya asked with a grin.

“Oh yeah,” Ladybug said almost proudly. “My friends and I practice on each other all the time! It’s no big deal!”

Adrien’s face went bright red, why was he never allowed to have sleep overs before? This was magical to him.

“My turn!” Ladybug said with a mischievous grin. “Adrien, truth or dare?”

His red face turned to her slowly, trying to decide which to pick. “Uhh…uhmm…pick for me.” He said dumbly. She cracked a grin.

“Truth! I already know you said you’ve read fanfiction about me, but have you ever _written_ it? What kind of story was it if so?” she asked, eager to know her _interests_ were mutual.

His eyes went wide and he almost frowned, was he supposed to **_actually_** tell the truth here? He swallowed the lump in his throat and just went for it. “I’ve definitely written hardcore LadyNoir fanfics, lots of them. The most graphic stories on the net are probably mine.” He nodded as he spoke as he witnessed her mouth open wider and wider with each word.

She froze like that in shock for a moment before she found the courage to speak. “But why Chat? Why not yourself?”

“I totally thought you two were a real couple for the longest time.” He lied, but secretly always daydreamed. She gave him a look of stubbornness and crossed her arms and huffed.

“Your turn, Adrien!” Alya said to break the tension.

Adrien looked at the grumpy Ladybug, to the curiously awaiting Nino, then to the grinning Alya making a _‘bring it on’_ hand motion.

“Alya! Truth or dare?” Adrien said boldly.

“Truth!” she said assured of herself.

“If Ladybug confessed that she was in love with you, would you leave Nino for her?” Adrien asked and it suddenly became Nino’s turn to drop his jaw.

“No, but I’d kill him if he denied me my affair with her!” she put her hands on her hips and looks over at her man with a scowl.

“Anything for you, babe?” he shrugged and laughed nervously.

It was once again Alya’s turn and she gave Ladybug the look a predator gives its prey before the pounce. “Ladybug, truth or dare?”

“Truth.” She said still in shock about the fanfiction.

“Have you and Chat Noir ever….you know…done anything?” Alya hinted seductively.

For an absolute split-second Adrien was worried about if it was true or not, but then he had to remind himself that he was indeed Chat Noir and thus the answer was a harsh **no**. _‘Now that I think about it, if I wasn’t Chat Noir, I’d personally have a very difficult time believing that Ladybug and Chat Noir never did anything together. Interesting having an inside perspective to the situation.’_ Adrien mused in his head.

Nino and Alya assumed his deep thought expression was because he was genuinely wondering the same thing.

“No!” ladybug stammered. “We’ve never done anything at all!”

“I mean you’ve kissed him before, I got it on camera when you fought us as Oblivio.” Alya’s brow quirked.

“Okay, in situations we’ve kissed, but only like four times!”

 _‘And I remember_ ** _none_** _of them!’_ Adrien screamed out in his mind.

“How is it that you and the hot, sexy Chat Noir never once got together? The whole world thinks you two are secretly a couple, spending your days off in your civilian forms, spending your nights in each others beds…you know? Stuff the whole internet talks about!” Alya asked as she laid down on her side.

“Augh, the internet can be so toxic and perverted!” she gagged. “No way would I go for a guy like Chat Noir, he’s secretly a **massive jackass**! **”** she sneered and stuck her tongue out as she thought about Andre.

It took everything in him not to cry, he had to pull the robe up over his face and start rubbing it to pretending like he was drying his hair.

“Oh really? Wow, I had no idea!” Alya gasped. “What’s he really like?”

“For one he’s a massive pervert!” she began as Adrien stood up and sauntered over to the bathroom door.

“Adrien, you okay?” Nino asked.

“Y-yeah, just gotta take a hot shower, I think being wet for so long made me cold.” He lied, but he really did get in the shower and turn the water on super hot.

 _‘Oh no!’_ Ladybug’s heart began to race. _‘I forgot that Adrien and Chat Noir are secretly friends. He must know who it is by now, because it’d have to be the one who told him about me competing in the contest. Also he probably thinks that I think he’s a pervert over the fanfiction thing! Oh no! I really fucked up!’_

“Has he ever had a girlfriend before?” Alya asked and was the last thing Adrien heard as he closed the bathroom door and turned the water on. It was loud enough to drown out their words, but not their voices.

 _‘I had no idea Ladybug thought that way of me…I’m so stupid….What do I do if she finds out who I am?’_ he thought as he felt his heart beginning to break. _‘Do I even still want to date her after hearing what she really thinks of me?’_ A horrid realization he’d come to, and he’d broken his own heart by thinking it. He quietly sobbed in the tub, he was used to keeping quiet when crying.

“Well, he has his great moments too. I guess I can let the pervy comments slide because he is a great crime-fighting partner and he’s always there for me.” She said loud enough to ensure Adrien heard it. “I wouldn’t trade him for anyone else in the world!” she exclaimed. “Just because he’s a bit of a pervert doesn’t mean I don’t adore him!” she said extra loud.

Alya and Nino gave each other confused looks before looking back to Ladybug. “Why’re you shouting?”

“ _I think Adrien is a closet Chat Noir fanboy and I might have hurt his feelings. I’m making sure he can hear me.”_ She whispered.

“ _Ohhhh_!” the other two said.

“ _So play along like I praised the hell out of Chat Noir_!” she whispered back to them.

“But for real, what’s he really like?” Alya asked, no longer whispering.

“He is actually very sweet, he just gets a little over zealous with the romance sometimes.” She said softly as she looked at her soda pop can. “I know he truly means well, but sometimes it’s a bit much for me to handle. Sometimes I feel bad for rejecting him, and I just don’t know what to tell him.”

“That’s rough, girl.” Alya said as she patted Ladybug’s shoulder.

In the tub Adrien didn’t even bother using the free soaps, he’d rather not use any product that looked like it came out of a bathroom vending machine. He battled with his inner demons about how he felt about Ladybug’s insult. His heart yearned to tell her that he was Chat Noir, but his mind screamed that she didn’t deserve to know anymore. He struggled with the tears forming in his eyes. Even with the follow up commentary about how she thought Chat Noir was actually a good partner and she adored him, it wasn’t enough to erase the knife in his heart that had already been thrust into him. His lower lip quivered occasionally as he tried to calm himself down.

The hot water did soothe him a bit, he really was cold from the rain afterall. _‘Okay think, Ladybug has called you a couple of names in the past. She doesn’t really mean it, I really can be a pain in the ass to her sometimes…’_ he told himself as he squeezed his eyes shit tightly. _‘She said she adores me….she just doesn’t love me… not all of me anyways.’_

Adrien shut off the water and stepped out of the steaming tub and in front of the mirror. He looked as his red blotchy skin and strained eyes, he definitely looked like he’d been crying. _‘I’ve always felt like when I was Chat Noir that I was finally my real self. If Ladybug doesn’t like the real me, then should I be dating her as half-me?’_ The thought made him tremble as he towel dried himself off.

He could hear the trio talking in the other room, but he could only catch a word or two here and there, nothing to make a full sentence with. He turned the blow dryer on and began working on his hair as he delved deeper into his heart. _‘I can’t do this knowing how she actually feels about the real me.’_

He sighed knowing he would probably regret this decision and he was overreacting to a one-liner, but his heart was breaking and he wasn’t sure if he could date someone who thought such a thing of him. He redressed now that his clothes were dry and mentally prepared himself for his grand re-entrance to his friends and opened the door and posed in the doorway. _‘Model mode, engaged!’_

“I return!” he announced, doing his best to seem unbothered and not like he’d just spent a half hour crying.

Nino clapped and whistled as Ladybug’s eyes remained fixed on the card game she and Alya had begun. She was too nervous to look up and see a sad or angry Adrien. Luckily for her he came up and sat beside her and she took a glance at him to see that he looked perfectly content, but a bit red in the face.

“Did you even turn the cold faucet on dude?” Nino laughed and pointed at Adrien’s rosy cheeks.

“I like my showers scorching hot!” he chuckled lightly and reached for a drink and popped it open.

The rain died down as the group played more games and gorged on snacks. The conversations were much lighter than before and Adrien settled into a calm and bittersweet mood rather than a depression. Ladybug was the first to yawn, followed by Adrien. She slid off the bed and stretched before going to the window and seeing that the rain was gone. She turned back to them and said “Well, I didn’t intend to stay the night in a hotel room to be honest with you.”

“It’s alright girl, I can drive you back to Paris.” Alya offered and Ladybug shook her head.

“Actually, I can get myself home faster than your car can!” Ladybug said as she walked back over to Adrien’s side and looked down at him sweetly.

He looked up at her sadly, knowing she was about to leave. “Can I have your phone number before you go?” he asked and Ladybug’s eyes darted all around as she thought of an excuse.

“Well…you see….” He rubbed the back of her neck.

“With the era of smart phones and caller ID, it might be a bad idea to do that.” Alya spoke up. “Just get his email and make a new fake account to email him from.”

“That works for me!” Adrien smiled and wrote his email address on a piece of paper from the nightstand and gave it to her.

She leaned down and kissed his lips one last time before saying her goodbyes and leaving him for what he felt would be forever. As she made her way home Alya and Nino got into bed together and giggled together. Adrien attempted to rest, but he couldn’t stop checking his email every few minutes hoping she would email that night. His heart was heavy with woe as he replayed the day’s events in his head over and over again. He could feel his hair turning grey.


	4. Chapter 4

Eyes and Lies on the Prize

Ch. 4 – Colossal Misunderstandings

Adrien laid in bed alone, Alya and Nino were snuggled up together in the bed next to him. How insanely envious he was of what those two had. He was exhausted, but his mind refused to let him sleep. Ladybug was the only thing on his mind and the only thing he wanted to do right now was talk to her again. He weighed the pros and cons of breaking their cardinal rule and telling her who he was to get a better answer out of her.

To see if she’d still love him or not.

 _‘I feel so stupid, I should’ve lied about the fanfiction thing.’_ He grimaced as he thought, his anxiety rising. _‘Maybe that’s why she left? I made it awkward by basically telling her I lewded her on the internet and probably spanked it to her nightly.’_ He wanted to cry again, but he got ahold of himself and took a deep breath.

 _‘I’ll tell her it was a joke when I email her and----- **wait a minute!**_ ’ his mind did a record scratch as her words from the park echoed around in his mind. _‘ **She did that to me too!’**_ He shot upright in his bed and made a pouting face at himself in the mirror across the room. There was just enough light in the room to see his own expression and he reached for his phone.

No email from a new user yet.

 _‘She outright told me that she read lewd stories about me on the internet too! If she is allowed to say that, then so am I!’_ he thought as he put his phone back on the night stand and rolled himself up in the blankets triumphantly. This seemed to be the soothing thought he needed to finally allow himself to fall asleep.

Back in Paris Ladybug made it back to her balcony and dropped back onto her bed and passed out in her bed almost the moment she de-transformed. Her dreams were full of Adrien with a splash of Chat Noir, and even a cooky akuma. Nothing out of the ordinary for her, so why was she gripped in such a weird and uncomfortable feeling? Something akin to anxiety wrapped itself around her chest and squeezed lightly, refusing to let go even though she didn’t know what it was. Even in her deep slumber the strange aura of mixed emotions refused to release her heart, filling her dreams with bizarre images.

When she finally stirred it was already past noon and the weekend sunlight warmed her up; She slid out of bed and over to her computer where she made her new fake email address and sent Adrien the first message.

**[LB: Hi Adrien, this is Ladybug!**

**Sorry I left so suddenly last night, I was very tired after the competition and the date. I didn’t exactly feel comfortable sharing a bed with you in a strange motel just yet, no offense! I was hoping we could talk sometime today if you’re available. I understand that you’re usually pretty busy with work and all, but if you have a free moment and think of me, I’d love that.]**

She hoped that she sounded casual enough, but also eager enough, to balance out the situation. It’s not that anything went too terribly wrong, but she felt bad for disrespecting a mutual friend, especially when that person wasn’t there to defend themselves. The anxious feeling started to build up within her as she waited for his reply. It was a few minutes of wallowing in self-loathing before he sent a reply. As soon as she heard that familiar ping sound she scrambled back to her computer.

**[A: Ladybug!**

**I’m glad you actually emailed me, I was super nervous that you would change your mind to stay hidden, which I’d totally understand! It’s ok, I didn’t expect to stay in a strange motel either, and I certainly don’t want to make you uncomfortable around me by forcing you to share a bed with me! I was supposed to have fencing lessons today, but I’m not gonna go, just gonna ghost them. I thought about what you said about the future and I’m torn. I don’t know what to do, I need someone I can just trust and talk to.**

**I know this might sound silly, but I’ve always imagined that you’d be the person I could open my heart and soul to if I ever got the chance to just sit down and talk to you. There’s a lot that I’d want to tell you, and even more that I’d want to ask you. I also don’t want to drown you so quickly either, but yesterday felt so natural with you up until the motel. Do you want to meet up and talk in person, or stay in email like this?]**

_‘I knew it..’_ she thought with a scowl. _‘He **was** upset about the Chat Noir comment I made at the motel…’_

**[LB: I can talk in person, but I don’t know how we’d meet up in public like we did last night. It was dark out and we had very strange disguises. If we walked around as Ladybug and Adrien Agreste people would harass us. Maybe email for now is best, just until it gets dark. What did you want to tell and ask me?]**

He took a while to collect his thoughts before composing the single most delicately worded message of his life.

**[A: I know who Chat Noir is, I lied to you at the contest.]**

“Oh god…” he groaned. “Why did I just send that?!” Adrien slammed his head on his desk as Plagg let loose a howling chuckle.

“Mortals!” Plagg snickered. “So careless and naïve!”

**[LB: Oh no, this isn’t good! No one is supposed to know! Does he know you know?]**

**[A: Yes.]**

**[LB: That damn cat!]**

For a moment he thought about lying again, but he knew that no good would ever come of it and they would eventually reveal all, right? Right!?

**[A: Listen, it’s not what it seems. I’d rather explain in person tonight, but there were some other things I wanted to talk to you about. Not all of it is about Chat Noir, most of it is about my career and what I’ll end up doing. I have enough of my own money to break away from my father’s brand and start my own. I can’t stand living under his roof and his rules anymore, I’m eighteen and high school graduation is just a couple of months away.**

**If you’re willing to wait until graduation to give me the chance to tell you everything else, I will. Even if I never find out your identity, it’ll be ok. I’m thinking about getting that apartment with a balcony we talked about. You could come and go as you please, no obligations or restrictions. I’ll never question why you have to suddenly get up and go, I know how akumas work. You can wear whatever disguise you want, I won’t try to look or ask to see your face.**

**At the contest you said you wanted to marry someone in the fashion industry and to start your own brand with. Well, here I am.]**

All the bad thoughts from the hot shower and the tossing and turning in the motel last night were gone, all that was before him was his lady and his forgiveness of her harsh words. He wanted his future to be with her, no matter the cost.

 _‘I’d even trade what little love from my father I get for this….’_ His heart raced as he waited for her reply.

Marinette’s eyes reread the last part dozens of times, blinking her eyes rapidly and gripping the arm rests of her computer chair tightly. “Tikki…” she mumbled out and the kwami flew up to read the screen.

“Ohhhhhh boy…..” the god sighed out.

“Tikki…” Marinette blurted out again, her eyes glued to the screen. “Did Adrien Agreste just **propose** to me?”

“Yes.” Tikki said flatly. “Through an email. After the first date. Not knowing who you even are. After you told him you weren’t able to make your relationship official. How romantic.”

“Tikki….” Marinette repeated as she turned her swivel chair facing away from the computer. “Tikki, this got _really_ serious, _really_ fast.”

The kwami watched as the awestruck girl spun around in her chair slowly. “You’re not going to just say _yes_ like that, are you!?” Tikki asked fearfully.

Marinette stopped spinning. “Would it really be so bad if I did?” she dared to daydream as she spoke. “I’ll get to design my own wedding dress….my own bridal veil…. I could even design his tuxedo….. I could make all the bridesmaid’s dresses…. I could open my own bridal shop……” Marinette continued to mumble until the words were no longer intelligible to Tikki. “Mom and dad could make the wedding cake….”

“Hello!? Earth to Marinette!” Tikki flew in front of her face. “You have a super villain to catch! A world to save!”

Marinette shook her head and slapped her cheeks. “You’re right, you’re right!” She turned back to the screen and attempted to act less like Marinette and more like Ladybug. “There’s a natural order in which these things must follow.”

Tikki wasn’t sure how much she liked that response. Across Paris was the most anxious and terrified Adrien Agreste that Plagg had ever seen. He was practically ripping his hair out. He sat with his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands gripping his hair tightly.

“WhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhydidIjustproposetoher?” if Plagg hadn’t spent the last few thousand years of his life guiding every air-headed Chat Noir through the waters of romance, he might not have registered what his terrified human’s mumbling even meant. “WhatifshesweirdedoutandthinksI’mclingyandohgod!”

The ping sound of salvation rang out and his hand hit the mouse button harder than Plagg biting into cheese.

**[LB: My school’s prom is being held at the Bourgeois Hotel on June 3 rd, there’s like four schools hosting their prom there due to us all being such small schools. If we make it that far together then I’ll go official with you to the public, but not as Ladybug. If I’m going to live with someone and get married then they’re going to have to know my identity, but the public can never know who I am, even if Hawkmoth is defeated.**

**Let’s keep this relationship to ourselves and just say things didn’t work out between us to the Ladyblog. We can keep meeting in secret and then on prom night I’ll reveal my identity to you. Deal?]**

“Plagg….” Adried muttered, eyes brimming with tears of joy.

“Heeeeeeehhh?” Plagg slurred out as he read the reply. “Oh boy, you’ve got a wife!”

“Plagg…” Adrien said as he stood up slowly, his hair a mess and tears falling down his cheeks. “I’m…getting married….to Ladybug…”

“Woah!” Plagg zoomed up to his face and bonked him on the nose. “Calm down lover-boy! She said **if** you make it to prom as a secret couple, she’d reveal her identity. You gotta still win her heart completely between now and prom! You should still properly propose to her!”

“Haven’t I done that already-“ Adrien was interrupted by a new email by Ladybug.

**[LB: One more thing, I have to tell Chat Noir about this. I can’t leave him in the dark and lie to him. He deserves to know who I am if I’m going to tell my boyfriend. I just feel terrible that I’m breaking our rule for my own selfish purposes after denying him the same thing for five years.]**

**[A: He’ll understand, marriage is an incredibly different situation than that. I also have to break the news to my father that I’m leaving him to pursue my own career. He’s gonna lose his mind. I think I’d better have the apartment signed before I tell him.]**

**[LB: There’s actually this one apartment I’ve had my eye on for years now. It’s on George V Ave. and it has views of Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower!]**

Included in her email was a link to a website’s listing for an apartment. Adrien stared at in, his future flashed before his eyes. It was a large five bedroom with a master suite balcony overlooking the tower and the park. Perfect for starting a family and enjoying sunsets with your wife. He trembled with excitement, he hadn’t been this full of hope in years. He’d forgotten what having hope felt like. He liked this feeling and wanted more of it. He wanted more love, more freedom, more tomorrow.

More Ladybug.

**[A: It looks perfect! We should go check it out sometimes after sundown together!]**

**[LB: That sounds nice, but how exactly are we going to get a good look at an apartment at night? They don’t do showings at night.]**

**[A: We could sneak in the old fashioned super hero way, through the balcony!]**

The two continued to exchange joking banter about all the mischief they could get into together as a secret power couple. Between secret dates atop the Eiffel tower, to giving Adrien a miraculous occasionally just to let him run around at super speeds with her, to just being able to freely be next to each other stress free and not worry about identities.

“Plagg, I don’t care if this girl is Juliette Auclaire, secretly Nino carrying out the long con on me, some random girl I’ve never heard of before, or even if she’s Chloe Bourgeois somehow. I found my soul mate!” he sighed out dreamily and closed his eyes imagining their apartment full of kids and hamsters.

“What about….Alya…or _Marinette_ …or-“

“I already know that Alya is Rena Rogue and Marinette is Multimouse, so they can’t be her.” Adrien chuckled.

“But wait, why is Chloe believable, but not Marinette?” Plagg asked confused on this mortal’s logic.

“Oh, I don’t actually believe it’s Chloe at all, those two have definitely been in the same room at the same time before! Besides, Chloe hates Ladybug….sort of? At least she used to.” Adrien pondered. “Besides, it’s more than likely that Ladybug is someone I’ve never met before. She doesn’t ever recognize people from my school when akumas strike there. She also thought that the Dupain-Cheng bakery was just a common snack shop, she had no idea how much stuff they sold when we fought an akuma there once.”

“Can we circle back to Marinette for a moment?” Plagg said harshly as he landed between Adrien and his keyboard and gave him a stern glare.

“Oh right!” Adrien’s eyes went wide and he grabbed his phone. “I should check on her, I hope she’s not too upset that she didn’t win the contest.” He began tapping away at his phone as Plagg groaned and gave up.

**[A: Hey Mari, I hope you’re doing well. I heard you went to a relative’s house after the contest. I don’t think I recognized you at the contest with all the masquerade masks on, but I bet your dress was stunning! See you at school tomorrow!]**

Marinette did not expect her apartment surfing to come accompanied with a text from Adrien.

A text to Marinette. Not to Ladybug, to Marinette. A text, not an email. _‘Right, I lied about going to a relative’s house…’_

**[M: Oh it’s alright, I knew I wasn’t going to win with a last-minute dress. I had fun anyways and got to see Ladybug and Chat Noir in action, and the Beauty and the Beast akuma was like watching Broadway! I didn’t even care that I lost! I’m totally over it now, but thanks for checking up on me. See you tomorrow too!]**

“Oh good, she’s alright. She’s so strong!” Adrien sighed in relief. “Honestly, if Mari had been upset about her dress still I’d have been really….really…” he paused, catching even himself off guard.

“Mad?” Plagg asked cheeky. “Sad? Depressed?”

“Y-yeah…” was all Adrien could whisper as something sat on his chest, something heavy and quite mysterious. He sat there in silence as he attempted to process this feeling when he heard the **ping** from Ladybug’s email response.

**[LB: Will you do me a favor and somehow get Chat into a good mood or somehow mentally prepare him? It’s okay if he knows the situation about us dating in secret. Just ease him into the situation. I don’t wanna hurt him, and as much as I give him crap he’s actually precious to me. He could use a friend like you as a good influence.]**

The weird feeling in his chest dissipated and he smiled as he sighed out, “She’s such a super hero.”

“She reminds me of that Marinette girl.” Plagg said bluntly.

“Well, that would make sense considering everyone in class calls Marinette their _‘everyday Ladybug’_ because she’s always saving someone from some sticky situation.” Adrien laughed out and the strange feeling returned to his chest, this time instead of being heavy it was light and soft.

**[A: Of course, M’lady!]**

**[LB: Oh god, you sound like Chat!]**

Adrien panicked a bit and realized his mistake.

**[A: I knew you’d find that funny!]**

**[LB: You’re so adorable!]**

After a quick swoon, Adrien stood up and stretched happily, life was finally going his way and he couldn’t be happier about it. As he went through his usual grooming routine, he kept thinking about his future with his lady. As he shampooed his hair, he wondered how many children they’d have. As he scrubbed his skin he thought up of baby names and how instead of knitting, his lady could be sewing baby clothes while pregnant. As he blow dried his hair, he thought of sipping on morning lattes together on their balcony that overlooked central Paris. As he brushed his teeth, he could only think of their wedding day and how he could spend the happiest day of his life surrounded with his friends and his new family.

As he plucked his eyebrows, he let the thoughts of his honeymoon to the beach fill his heart. As he applied an expensive lotion to his face and body, he let his lady’s eyes stare into his in his mind. As he squirted his hair shine in his hands and finger-combed it through his perfectly golden locks, he let his lady’s voice fill his ears with her sweet voice. Even as he applied his personal brand of cologne all he could smell was the gentle scent of his lady’s perfume.

Plagg noticed the absolute serene aura that overtook his mortal and smirked. _‘The calm before the storm. I’ve seen this a few dozen times.’_

An aggressive knocking on his bedroom door snapped him back to the harsh reality that was his father marching into his room without permission. There stood Adrien with nothing but a towel around his waist, face to face with a very agitated Gabriel. “Son, why are you not at your fencing lessons?”

Adrien froze, but not out of fear. After a few seconds of the two making awkward eye contact, Adrien crossed his arms and returned his father’s harsh stare. “I don’t want to go.”

“Nonsense, Tsurugi is waiting for you. You can still make the last half of practice if you leave now.” Gabriel said with a scowl.

“I’ve been in fencing lessons for a decade, there’s no point in continuing. I’ve beaten everyone there and I’m not making any progress.” Adrien said truthfully. “I’d have to go to the Olympics to upgrade.”

“I don’t care what you were doing at that backyard, shady motel last night, but your new _**perverted secret** **life**_ cannot hinder your public image.”

The statement was rather left-field in Adrien’s opinion, of all things for his father to not only discover, but to be even remotely accepting of was beyond his comprehension. Adrien’s mouth opened to say something, to say _anything_ , but not even a sound escaped from him.

“I already knew those _hosier_ friends of yours were a bad influence and my greatest mistake in raising you was letting you go to that school.” Gabriel said with almost hatred in his eyes. All Adrien could do is stare in disbelief as his father continued his onslaught of insults. “But it’s too late, there’s only a few months before graduation, it would do more harm than good to your reputation to pull you out now. Even if you have to wallow in the filth that is those _friends_ of yours a bit longer.”

Adrien mentally braced for the argument of a lifetime if his father tried any of his old shenanigans about chaining him down to the mansion like old times. “What are you getting at exactly?” Adrien said, his tone much darker than even he anticipated.

“You’re eighteen now.” Gabriel said then cleared his throat. “Meaning two things; you’ll either start doing less and less _honorable_ work in the beauty industry, and you’ll end up on websites with **my** brand’s reputation on the line. Or-“

“Hold up, stop!” Adrien put his hands up in defense as if the words were a physical threat somehow. “Did you just call me a **_porn star_**?!”

“What else were you doing in a dingy motel fifty miles outside of Paris in the middle of the night? You were spotted by several people, all claim you were dressed like a homeless person and you looked like you were intoxicated. It’s either sex, drugs, or alcohol Adrien. I’ve seen countless models go down those paths, I know what it looks like and how it starts.”

Adrien shook his head in disbelief and with a sudden eruption of laughter he asked, “Do I look like someone with a hangover? Do I look like I’ve been in the ghetto doing drugs all night? **Look at me and tell me I look like shit.** ” Adrien’s voice dropped an octave and it startled Gabriel.

“Well…” Gabriel started and looked his half naked son up and down. The boy looked like he’d never been dirty a day in his life. “Well no, not now, but surely last night you looked like a trainwreck.”

“If I’d been high or drunk last night, no amount of showering would make me look normal so soon. Face it, nothing happened at that hotel. The only indecent thing that happened was between me and about forty euros worth of chips and cookies.” Adrien scowled and tore his towel off and threw it on his father’s head.

Gabriel ripped the towel off his head and threw it on the floor to see Adrien already wearing underwear and pulling his pants up; black leather pants with lots of straps and buckles. He watched, silently fuming, as his son put on his usual white t-shirt with stripes and a black pair of boots. It wasn’t until he pulled a black leather jacket out of his closet that Gabriel saw the motorcycle helmet and practically sprinted over to him.

“Son, please don’t tell me you’re driving such a dangerous machine?” he asked with what sounded like genuine worry in his voice.

“I bought it with my own money, the title is in my name, you legally can’t take it away from me or stop me from riding it.” Adrien said flatly despite being intrigued by his father’s sudden shift in tone.

“I can’t lose you too…” Gabriel said as Adrien grabbed the helmet off the top shelf of the closet.

“You already have.” Adrien said as he put the helmet on and strapped it under his chin. “Five years ago.”

“Then I have nothing left.” Gabriel lamented as he watched Adrien head for his bedroom door.

“You have Natalie.” Was the last thing Adrien said as he boldly walked out of his room and out of that miserable, lonesome mansion. He walked a couple of blocks where his secret motorcycle was stashed in a rental storage unit.

Adrien didn’t know where he was going, he honestly hadn’t planned on even leaving yet, but his father pissed him off to the point he no longer cared about his wrath or his opinions. _‘Just a couple more months and everything will be okay.’_ He thought as he mounted the bike and started the engine. Prom, graduation, starting his own brand, true freedom, marrying his soul mate; all of them were within his reach.

Just not today.

Tomorrow was just a couple of months away.

Not years. Not some unfathomable eternity away. Not even a rough guess of ‘a few months’. Prom was June third, graduation was June nineth. He finally had a reachable goal with reasonable timelines, not some untouchable fantasy like before. He let the vision take shape in his mind as he pulled onto the main road and took a slow pace towards downtown. Prom he’d learn his soulmates real name, he’d spend the night with her however they pleased. Graduation he’d propose to her and tell his father that he was leaving his brand behind. Shortly after they’d move in together into that apartment they looked at together. Sometime later they would be married followed by the establishment of **_their_** new brand together. Then….

 _‘I wonder what we’ll name the hamster?’_ he pondered as he came to a red light. A light smile was formed by lips that yearned to kiss his lady again. _‘Ladybug…I wanna see Ladybug…’_

As the light turned green he took off slowly again, knowing that Ladybug wasn’t an option right now since it was daylight out. He didn’t know where he was going and just let the flow of traffic take him somewhere. After a couple of minutes he was once again at a red light and a wonderful scent wafted into his helmet and up his nose. It wasn’t until the sweet scent of baked goods smacked him upside the nostrils did he realize just how hungry he actually was. He turned his head to the left to see where that wonderful scent was coming from only to be met with the sight of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. His head whipped up, for a reason he’ll never understand why, and saw an angel peering down at him.

God was mocking him.

“Marinette?” he called out and the heavenly being looked down at him curiously.

“Do we know each other?” she asked shyly from above. A cannonball of something wonderful hit him in the chest upon hearing her familiar voice.

He parked his motorcycle on the curb and removed his helmet to reveal his face. She took in the sultry sight of her future husband in tight black leather. “Do you mind if I come over?”

“N-not at all! Please c-come in!” she stuttered and disappeared from view.

Marinette panicked as she ran from her balcony and down the hatch to her bedroom then flew down the stairs into the bakery where Adrien was already inside ordering. Sabine gave him far more food than he ordered and smiled at him.

“On the house hun, all of Marinette’s friends eat free here!” she said sweetly. Adrien’s eyes sparkled like he was witnessing an act of god. He looked down at the large box of croissants, muffins, cookies, and tarts. Before he could even utter a thank you she handed him two lattes and winked.

“Th-thank you!” he stammered out. “But how am I gonna eat all this and drink _two_ lattes?” he asked perplexed.

“You share them with someone, all meals should be eaten with loved ones.” The woman said as she patted his cheek before turning to the next customer.

Just as he turned his head he saw a red-faced Marinette standing coyly off to the side of the bakery. He made his way over to her, having taken the hint loud and clear. He offered one of the lattes to her and she accepted it with a quiet thanks. She led him to a two seater-table in the corner and they began eating their **_very_** late breakfast together.

“Sooo… what made you come here?” she asked, doing her best not to stutter or sound like a derpy mess.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know.” He started then took a sip of his latte. “I always end up _right here_ at your bakery whenever something bad happens.” She went through several emotions, all of which plastered on her face and he quickly realized the error of his words. “I don’t mean that this place is bad, just that it’s like my soul knows I need some muffins when things go wrong, ya’ know?” he laughed nervously.

 _‘Great, smooth…’_ he lectured himself in his mind. _‘You sound like Nino now.’_

She wanted to laugh at the muffin part, but something else nagged at her. “What went wrong?” she asked worriedly. She’d only just been talking to him a couple hours ago through both text and email as two different people and everything seemed fine.

 _‘Oh no! Did Chat Noir not take the news well?!’_ Marinette’s mind reeled.

His heart sank. “It’s really private and I can’t tell anyone, but I had a really harsh conversation with someone I am close to. I think I’m going make a clean break away and cut them out of my life.”

“Adrien…” she whimpered out and her hand went to his cheek. “If you need someone to just listen, I’m here for you.”

“Thanks Mari,” he said with a bittersweet smile, the nickname making her blush. “But if I even uttered a word of that conversation to someone it could ruin the reputation of someone very famous and very beloved to Paris.”

Marinette’s heart did backflips and her stomach kicked at her throat looking for an exit. “That bad?”

“Yeah, he said some really…. _perverted and disrespectful_ stuff…” he whispered as he leaned in. “I just can’t have that kind of nonsense in my life. I want nothing to do with him ever again.” Tears started forming in the brims of his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. Marinette stood up and reached over the table to shove his face in her chest and wrap her arms around the back of his silky blonde hair. She rubbed his back as he let the dam loose and sobbed into her soft chest.

 _‘Chat, what did you do to Adrien!?’_ Marinette screamed in her mind.

After a moment he broke away and composed himself. They finished their brunch together and he departed. Where to? Neither knew, but Marinette remained seated at the table mulling over what Chat Noir could possibly have said to Adrien to upset him so deeply.

 _‘Adrien probably told him that he was dating Ladybug and that he was going to see my identity first. Chat probably got jealous and defensive and said a ton of inappropriate things to hurt Adrien.’_ She thought as she stared at the empty pastry box before her. Tears trickled down her cheeks and she sobbed a bit. _‘Chat, why? Why can’t you just be rational about this? Why couldn’t you have just taken it out on me instead of Adrien, he’s innocent!’_

Her mind thrashed madly over what _perverted and disrespectful_ things that Chat Noir could possibly have accused Adrien of or said about him and she began to shake and sob. She wrapped her arms around herself and laid her head on the table, completely unaware of her surroundings. It wasn’t until her mother laid an arm on her trembling shoulder that she snapped back to reality. Marinette’s bloodshot eyes looked up at her mother who wiped her tears and sat down next to her.

“Honey, what’s the matter?” the woman asked.

“Oh mom!” Marinette wailed and threw herself into her mother’s arms. “It’s…it’s Adrien…” she said between sniffles and sobs. “H-he said…he said…”

“Shh, it’s okay, just clam down.” Sabine cooed her child and stood her up. “Let’s go upstairs.”

She led her daughter out of the public bakery and to the living room where she set her down on the couch and went to the kitchen to make tea. As she put the kettle on she listened to her sweet, only child cry hysterically.

“I don’t understand how he…he could say such horrible things?” Marinette cried out. “I trusted him!” she screeched out. “Mom, I adored him! I trusted him! How could he….”

Sabine’s heart shattered; she knew her daughter was always madly in love with that Agreste boy. After years of being kind to the boy who wouldn’t even give her daughter a second glance, she felt jaded. Sabine poured the hot water into two cups and a sudden spark of anger flashed through her. She grabbed the dried flowers and was ready to place them in the cups when her daughter shrieked out again.

“He said he **loved** me!” Marinette choked out in agony.

Sabine’s rage consumed her. _‘I gave that boy free food and drinks and this is what he does to my daughter!? How could he not see how perfect Marinette is? How could any boy reject her?’_

 **“Yes, such negative emotion! This is exactly that I was hoping would happen!”** Hawkmoth cackled as he placed his hands over a white butterfly and infused it. **“Go forth my little akuma and evilize her!”**

The akuma fluttered into the bakery where it landed on the flowers in Sabine’s hand. **“Soulmater, I am Hawkmoth. I am giving you the power to show people their soul mates and coerce them into confessing. In exchange for your daughter getting her man all I ask is for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses!”**

“Yes Hawkmoth, this boy will see the error of his ways and realize his true feelings for my daughter!” Sabine said as the transformation took over her.


	5. Chapter 5

Eyes and Lies on The Prize

Ch. 5 – Lemonade and Tea

Completely oblivious to what had just happened, Marinette continued to sob into the couch for a while longer. Unbeknownst to her, Soulmater was downstairs in the bakery weaving her magic upon the unsuspecting customers. She pinned the flower in her hair and put her apron back on and went back to work. To Tom and the customers, she was the normal everyday Sabine, serving her lattes, teas, cookies, and ringing up customers as usual.

“What can I get for you today?” Sabine said in a sweet tone and the young woman at the counter looked thoughtful for a moment.

“How’s about a large hibiscus tea!” the young redhead said eagerly. Sabine plucked a petal from her hair flower and discretely placed it inside the woman’s tea order then handed it to her. A new petal grew on the flower to replace the plucked one and the redhead was none the wiser.

Each customer who ordered a tea was given a petal in their drink, and as closing shift rolled around over two hundred customers had been served. The sun was down, the bakery cleaned up, and Marinette was watching the evening news while planning her next email to Adrien. She re-wrote the same email over a dozen times trying to word it just right. She wanted to ask how things went with Chat Noir, but she didn’t want to be suspicious like she knew something. Her heart still ached, but she was calming down and decided that she should find out for sure if her assumptions were correct.

“Just think of happier things right now, I seriously doubt Adrien was talking about Chat Noir.” Tikki patted her human’s cheek. Marinette smiled at her.

“Thank you, I think I’ll email Adrien about something lighter for now. I’ll see him tonight anyways. I can ask about Chat Noir as Ladybug” Marinette said as she began typing her email. Tikki was just glad that Marinette wasn’t a blubbering mess anymore. Having learned Chat Noir’s true identity long ago, Tikki knew Marinette’s assumption was wrong, but there was no safe way to convey that to her without revealing his identity.

Marinette opened her message with Adrien’s name at the top and paused, she wanted something a bit more personal. Something _affectionate_. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to start sneaking in pet names like ‘babe’ or ‘my prince’, it was too tempting not to. A goofy smile crossed her face and her eyes glazed over at the thought of him returning the gesture and giving her a petname.

“Oh, Tikki! What do you think he’ll call me?” she sighed out dreamily.

“He already has a nickname for you, he called you ‘m’lady’ just like Chat Noir does.” The kwami’s tiny voice echoed into Marinette’s ears.

“Huh…” she mumbled and repositioned herself to sit upright. “Oh...he does, that’s right.”

For some reason she looked unhappy about it and Tikki could only guess why. Marinette spun around quickly in her chair as she listened to the television’s news network talk about the next day’s weather and local happenings. She wasn’t truly paying attention to it, but suddenly a reporters urgent voice caught her attention.

**[We’re going live to Nadja Chamack with an interesting report to make that is sweeping the streets of Paris! Nadja?**

**Hello, I’m Nadja Chamack with channel sixteen and I’m standing on one of the busiest intersections of downtown Paris where we are learning of an interesting situation unfolding. A few dozen people are saying that they all found their one true love all of a sudden on the streets and many are even claiming that they saw a total stranger and realized that they were soulmates at first sight. Now this lovely couple right here has a bizarre story to tell us.]**

Nadja handed the mic to the couple who were holding hands next to her, they waved to the camera and the woman spoke up first.

“So I was walking down main street after shopping at the local boutiques, I stopped and got a tea with some cookies, and on my way to the park I purchased a key chain here from a street peddler.” She held up a keychain of the Eiffel Tower. “As I was just minding my own business sitting on this park bench something came over me, it was like all of a sudden my heart started racing and my mind cleared. I looked up and there was a red car driving on the road next to me, and it stopped right in front of me. A man got out, took one look at me, I looked and him, and saw **this**!” she said with excitement as she held up her pinky and he followed suit. Marinette didn’t see anything, just two people holding up their pinky fingers together.

He laughed with her and said, “It was the strangest thing ever! I’d just gotten off work and eaten lunch when I had the strangest urge to drive in the _opposite_ direction of my house. I just fancied this strange feeling and headed North instead of South, and as I drove by the park my heart just began pounding in my ears! I pulled over because I felt faint and when I got out of the car, I saw this red string on my finger and followed it. I looked up and was staring into the face of true love itself!” he exclaimed and threw his arms around her.

“We’ve known each other for less than an hour and I feel like he’s been a part of my life since birth somehow!” she smiled and looked very cozy in the man’s arms.

**[You heard it folks! The old Asian myth of the red string of fate that ties soulmates together has seemingly come true here in Paris, all the way across the world! In case you’re wondering this isn’t the only story almost exactly like this we’ve receive. Every few minutes we’re getting a new story from another couple, some already married to one another, and many who had never even laid eyes upon each other before! Stay tuned for tomorrow morning’s deep dive discussion and Q and A with more couples!]**

If Marinette had never heard of akumas or superpowers she’d have gone out that instant and done all the things the people on television spoke of doing before their red string appeared. She whipped out her phone and opened the akuma tracker app and saw no activity. She force closed the app and opened it back up, no activity. She scowled at her phone and restarted it. When it turned back on she went back to the app, still no notification of an active akuma. She turned back to the television and watched the news show live footage of the park where many couples gathered in celebration.

“What in the world?” she mumbled as her bakery was displayed on the screen. She jumped up and climbed out to her balcony where she hung over the railing and watched what looked like a Valentine’s parade going on in the streets. Hundreds of people out roaming around and stores that were normally closed at this hour were still open for business, taking advantage of all the eager people seeking romance.

“Marinette, just because no one has reported the akuma to the app doesn’t mean it’s not an akuma!” Tikki said fearfully. “It just means no one has seen a villain yet or realized what’s happening!”

Before Marinette could respond Tikki had hidden herself back into her purse again as a soft thump was heard from behind them. She expected it to be her parents coming up to get a better view of the ongoing events in the streets, but she was sorely mistaken.

“Mom, Dad! Do you see all of thi--- Chat Noir?” Marinette shook her head in disbelief. She tilted her head at him as he walked up to stand beside her at the railing. “Wh-what’re you doing here?”

“Sorry, but you have the best view of the area and I needed a lookout for an akuma.” He said as his eyes scanned the crowd for suspicious activity.

“Are you sure it’s an akuma?” she asked pulling out her phone and checking the app again. “The Ladyblog and the akuma app say nothing.”

Chat shook his head at her. “I thought the same thing, but my kwami reminded me that the app requires witnesses to report the akuma attack. People can’t report what they don’t see, so I’m just patrolling until I spot something. Have you seen anything weird yet?”

“No, but it’s obvious that there’s a pattern happening.” Marinette began as she opened the news website on her phone. “Almost all of these people claiming they see red strings have the same story, they shopped at stores on **this** street.”

Chat Noir remained silent as his cat-eyes narrowed as he honed in on a man stumbling around in a trench coat and something in his hands. He lowered his head and lifted one leg to put his foot on the railing, ready to pounce. Marinette placed a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.

“No, no kitty!” she shushed him and pulled him back off the railing. “That’s just Drunk Joey, he’s a regular at the bar down there. His wife died a couple years ago and he’s been drunk as a skunk ever since.” She explained as Chat continued to eye the man leerily. “One of Paris’ best kept secrets is that he’s secretly a total softie, see, watch!”

She leaned over the railing and shouted down at the man. “Hey Joey! Do you need a coffee to sober up? _It’s on the hooouuuse_!”

The man whipped his head up at her upon hearing that familiar angelic offering. “Not yet ma’am! I’m going to the next bar first!” he shouted back and waved, “But thank you!” he added with a chef’s kiss with both hands in her direction. Marinette giggled down at him before turning her gaze back to Chat who looked like he’d been struck by lightning.

“You are so so so genuinely the nicest and most sincere person I’ve ever met!” he praised her and she blushed.

“So…” she began and cleared her throat. “I thought your vision of me was ruined during the fashion contest?” she asked with a sudden shift in tone.

He was utterly clueless and scratched the back of his head in thought. “Uhh…remind me again what happened?”

“Nevermind, it was a bad idea to bring it up.” She mumbled softly. Her expression looked dreary to him and he became very worried that he’d done something wrong.

“No, tell me.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “How could I ever think differently about you than that you’re literally perfect?”

His voice was so soft and genuine, how could he be so good at being two-faced?

“You intend to keep your promise to me, right?” she asked as she backed out of his grasp.

He retracted his hand and recoiled. _‘Did I make a promise to Marinette as Chat Noir at the fashion contest? Did I even talk to her as Chat Noir? I don’t think I even saw her perform in the contest at all.’_ His mind raced as he crossed his arms and stared down at her curiously.

“Chat!” she whined. “Please tell me you kept your promise! That you wouldn’t tell anyone!”

He felt the anxiety and panic kick in. _‘Oh god, I made a promise to Marinette and I can’t even remember what it is! I’m such a horrible friend!’_

“Oh, of course! I won’t….tell a soul!” he faked a smile. _‘What the **fuck** is she even talking about!?’_

She took a deep sigh of relief and placed a hand on her own chest. “You worried there me for a moment.”

“Sorry, just have a lot on my mind right now.” He said then looked bitterly back down at the crowd still growing by the moment.

 _‘Oh that’s right.’_ Marinette thought as she watched Chat’s new melancholy mood take shape. His body language screamed ‘ _depression_ ’ and she heard it loud and clear. _‘Adrien told him and he flipped out on him. I wonder if he’s mad at me too and is just doing his best to keep it together.’_

She felt a pang of guilt. She’d refused to tell him her identity all this time then she goes and tells her new boyfriend, and now that he finally knew it too, it was too late, she was already dating his friend Adrien. She was tempted to call him by his real name, Andre, but decided against it. Even though the way he talked to her at the contest in his civilian form left a sour taste in her mouth about him, she wanted to keep the professionalism of Ladybug and Chat Noir intact. She felt like calling him Andre whilst he was transformed broke that barrier of safety. It was also probably better to not transform on the balcony while so many people could possibly see them.

“I’m gonna go downstairs and change.” She said in a low tone as she went down her hatch, completely missing the raised eyebrow of confusion on his face. He assumed she meant she was putting on her pajamas and going to bed and just shrugged it off. She made it to her living room downstairs where her parents were snuggled on the couch watching the news unfolding outside their front door.

“Mom, Dad.” She began. “I’m gonna go out with some friends for a bit and see if we can find our soulmates too. I’ll be back sometime before dawn.”

“Good luck dear!” her mother cheered at her. “Make sure you find that Adrien boy and show him your string!”

Marinette smiled warmly back at her. “That’s the plan!” she lied. _‘If only I had that kind of time. This is probably an akuma, and I’ll have to spend my entire night looking for it. I just hope Adrien understands.’_

She made it to the back door and transformed before exiting and jumping up to the roof and back down onto her own balcony next to Chat. “Seen anything yet?”

“Oh, there you are!” he said excitedly. If his tail was real it would’ve wagged at the sight of her. “Nothing so far, just Drunk Joey and about a few hundred people running around totally lost and clueless.”

“Man, this looks like black Friday shopping at a toy store!” she groaned and stood up on the railing. “Well, let’s get this over with. Let’s find the cause and put an end to it.”

He jumped up on the railing with her and grabbed her arm. “Wait, m’lady!” he pleaded. “If it’s not an akuma, would you be willing to try it out with me?”

“The soulmate thing?” she asked sheepishly and he nodded. “ _Chaaaat_!” she whined and pulled her arm away from him. “You know I’m dating Adrien now, we’re in love. I’m sorry.”

“I just want the nail in the coffin.” He said somberly. “Besides, if you and Adrien are _oh so_ made for each other, then you have nothing to worry about.”

“Oh alright, but only because that gives me an idea, participating might be the best way to catch the akuma.” She said then yo-yo’d to the adjacent building. He followed her and they began their hunt.

They strolled through the crowd catching everyone’s eye that they passed. They made sure to go into each shop and stop at each kiosk stand. Many stores remained open long past their usual closing time, which made their hunt much easier. Only a couple actually closed their doors to the public, but they were willing to let Ladybug and Chat Noir inside. The duo entered an accessory shop that was void of all customers, the only other people inside was the manager. They looked around and inspected several items, but nothing stood out.

“I had many of the couples from the news buy these matching friendship bracelets and these hair pins. We sold about thirty pins from open until lunch break, then when the news broke out we sold out of the other seventy in less than an hour.” The manager explained.

“That’s not enough, there was more couples than that and not all of them shopped here.” Ladybug pondered. “Well thank you for letting us in, go ahead and inform the police or local news stations if you find anything that might help.”

They left the shop and were permitted entrance to a hattery that even Marinette had bought from before. Once again it was the same problem, not enough people bought the same items to qualify as a suspect. After having visited every shop they made their way down the sidewalk in the direction of the park and the Eiffel Tower. They pushed passed countless people giggling and rushing around like animals, making their short trip take annoyingly longer. They came up on the Dupain-Cheng bakery and Ladybug didn’t even glance in its direction. Chat Noir stopped and stared into the dark abyss of the bakery.

“Hey, do you wanna check out the bakery?” Chat asked and pointed to the pitch-black building. The only light was from the top two floors of the building.

“I supposed it’s worth a shot.” She said and knocked on the front door. “Just play along!”

“Oookay…” he said and moved to stand beside her.

At first there was no response and so Ladybug knocked louder. She gave it a minute, but no answer. _‘I know they’re in there…. Maybe they can’t hear me over the television?’_ She thought and came up with an idea.

She yo-yo’d her way up to the third floor where the living room was and knocked on the window. Tom took no time getting to the window and parting the curtains. He gasped in awe as he saw Ladybug perched on the window sill smiling at him nervously. He opened the window and let her inside.

“Ladybug, it’s an honor to have you in our home.” The man said with a bow. “Let me guess, you want to inspect the bakery for clues?”

“Yes please.” She said sweetly. “Oh and Chat Noir too, if you don’t mind?” she asked as Chat leapt onto the window sill. Tom gave a nod of approval and the three of them headed downstairs into the dark bakery.

Tom flipped on the lights and said “Help yourselves, we even have some leftovers that we’d planned on giving out, but we weren’t sure if we even should, given the current situation and all.”

“Probably for the best that you didn’t, we don’t know what Hawkmoth has schemed.” Ladybug said as she began rooting through the hardening pastries. “For all we know these people may not actually even be soulmates, it could be just a trick to get Chat Noir and I into an emotional ordeal to create an opening for attack.”

“Does that mean if it shows us as soulmates that you won’t believe it?” Chat asked bitterly.

“Well, who knows…” she muttered as she opened cabinet after cabinet. “We’ll see what happens kitty.”

They did a thorough search of the bakery and came up with nothing of use. Ladybug flopped down onto a chair in the bakery and groaned. It was approaching midnight and all she wanted was sneak off to go see Adrien. Sabine descended the stairs and headed straight for the stove where she put a kettle of water on. She started preparing the tea infuser and as underhandedly put two petals into the mixture. Chat Noir and Ladybug were too busy brainstorming ideas of where to go next that neither of them paid any heed to the woman.

She made her way over to the duo and handed each of them a cup of hot tea. “Here you guys go, you must be exhausted! Take a break!” Sabine said softly as the two accepted the drinks.

Chat Noir sipped on his as Ladybug set hers down on the table before her and just stared down at it lost in thought. “What about the street vendors in the park?” she mused. Chat just mumbled _‘mhm’_ as he sipped peacefully on his soothing drink. He made a mental note to order from this bakery more often. “What about that ice cream vendor guy that plays match maker? He’s nearby, maybe—Oh no!” Ladybug stopped her rambling and stood up abruptly.

She looked out the bakery window, eyes open wide at the crowd outside. Chat’s eyes followed where she was looking at and nearly spat his drink out. The both of them bolted for the bakery’s front door and unlocked it and ran outside where the chaos was erupting. They pushed passed all of the people shouting and pushing each other. It was no use, the crowd was quickly becoming a riot, some people even throwing punches like a mosh pit. They leapt up onto Marinette’s balcony to get a better view of what was causing the violence.

“Is that Lila!?” Ladybug groaned out.

“Is that Lila, **_starting a lemonade stand brawl_**?” Chat asked with a quirked brow.

“Come one, come all!” Lila shouted at the crowd of people grabbing at her kiosk. “My research has led me to believe that the water from a local restaurant was the cause of the red strings and I have been given their permission to make my lemonade with it! Since that restaurant is closed for the night, I am your only true source! Each cup of lemonade is one-hundred euros!”

The people were more than willing to pull out their cash and wave it as her as she filled cup after cup with the lemonade. Ladybug pondered on what to do about the situation, rhere were too many bystanders to just start a fistfight. Chat Noir was in the same position, but being keen on Lila’s lying as well he knew there likely wasn’t a high chance that the lemonade was even the cause at all.

“Is it worth the fight?” Ladybug mumbled.

“Probably not, but we’ve got nothing to lose.” He said and they both leapt from the balcony and did their best to part the crowd. “Ladybug and Chat Noir coming through!” he shouted as he forcefully moved a man aside. “Just trying to investigate!”

Lila scowled for a split second, but then recovered and put on her best smile for them. “Ladybug! Chat Noir!” she greeted them warmly. “Since we’re all such good friends, I’ll give you both a cup for free!” she said sweetly before pouring two cups.

“We’re not interested in drinking your nonsense Lila. Which restaurant supplied your water?” Ladybug said as she pulled out her yo-yo.

“The one right behind me.” Lila pointed to the Italian restaurant with their doors locked and a ‘closed’ sign in front.

“Wait, we’re not?” Chat said sourly. “I thought we were going to at least attempt it and see….right?”

“It’s too dangerous, we don’t know what she’s actually done to the lemonade, it’s probably an akuma!” Ladybug gave him a sorrowful frown.

Lila scoffed and crossed her arms. “Do I _look_ akumatized to you?”

Ladybug’s facial expression went from bittersweet sorrow to surprise and intrigue. _‘She’s right, she doesn’t look akumatized at all.’_

“Well, worst case scenario it’s ordinary lemonade and she’s just taking advantage of desperate people.” Chat began as he grabbed both of the cups and held one out in Ladybug’s direction. “Best case scenario, it’s not an akuma and love really is in the air tonight and we find our soulmates!”

Ladybug hesitated as she slowly reached her hand out to take the cup, lost in thought.

“C’mon!” a man in the crowd shouted at them.

“Yeah, come on!” another man said.

“It’s high time you two started dating publicly!” a woman shouted encouragingly. “How could you say **_no_** to true love!?”

Chat Noir saw the uneasiness on Ladybug’s face as she accepted the cup, so he raised his cup up to hers in a toast. He began drinking his and she just looked down at the yellow liquid in wonder. As Chat Noir gulped his rather happily Ladybug looked around at the crowd cheering her on and chanting _‘chug, chug, chug’_ at her relentlessly. Someone caught her eye, a familiar outfit and pair of white sunglasses with bloodshot eyes.

“Chloe Bourgeois?” Ladybug asked as she slowly approached the sniffling blonde.

“L-ladybug?” the girl muttered out in disbelief. “I-…I’m just here to….to find Sabrina!” she lied as she wiped her eyes trying to cover her tears.

 _‘I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I don’t have time to deal with her.’_ Ladybug thought, but then an idea crossed her mind. “Here, take this. I can’t risk drinking it, but if you wanna help be a _superhero_ today you can drink it and tell us what you feel and see!”

“A superhero….” Chloe mumbled as she accepted the drink. She took a deep breath and took a sip of the sweet drink. “It’s…too sweet.” She complained lightly before taking another sip. “Way too sweet….” She furrowed her eyebrows. She reluctantly took a bigger gulp of it and swallowed hard. “Augh, Lila! More is not more!” she coughed out and Lila sneered back at her. Chloe inspected her hands and saw nothing. “How long is this supposed to take?” she asked rudely, regaining her usual snarky demeanor.

“I’m not sure, has anyone else in the crowd had anything happen?” Ladybug asked and everyone shrugged.

“I’ve noticed it can be instant or take up to a few hours.” Lila said with her fake cheery voice.

“M’lady!” Chat shouted excitedly as he held up his left hand. “I got the red string, but it’s not connected to anything, it’s just this short dangling thing….” He said as his voice trailed off less excitedly.

She blinked several times and looked at him before raising her own hands and seeing nothing. “I don’t see anything.”

“Well, you didn’t drink the lemonade!” he grumbled. “Maybe the string only connects to someone when your soulmate _also_ drinks the lemonade?” he said lowly, giving her a look of sass.

It seemed reasonable enough and Chloe handed the half full cup back to Ladybug who pushed it back to her saying, “No, take it home with you and share it with that guy from the contest.” Ladybug smiled down at her and Chloe just nodded and turned around and left the roaring crowd.

Chloe walked all the way home by herself, coddling the half full cup with both hands. She entered the hotel and went up the elevator back to her personal suite. She had her own fridge and kitchenette and placed the cup in the fridge and went and laid on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling wistfully then raised her hands up to check from red string. She let a couple tears escape before rolling herself up in the blankets like a burrito and sobbing.

_‘I don’t deserve a soulmate.’_

Back at the lemonade stand Lila wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. She poured another cup and held it out to Ladybug. “Please Ladybug!” Lila pleaded with tears pooling in her eyes. “If this is an akuma, we need your help! We need you to be willing to risk it all for us! And since I’m just a civilian who has always wanted to be a superhero like you, I’ll take a drink first to show you how sincere I am!”

Lila took a very visible swig of the lemonade, one that even Ladybug didn’t think was a lie for once. Lila extended the cup to her and Ladybug gave her a stern look, weighing her options. The crowd behind her kept chanting for her to drink it with pleas and begs for salvation. Ladybug couldn’t take it anymore and took the cup and took the smallest sip and cringed.

“Oh god, Chloe was right!” she coughed out. “There’s too much sugar in this!”

Lila looked like she was ready to burst into tears again. “I’m sorry Ladybug, I tried my best to make it just right….”

Ladybug looked all around at the crowd giving her mixed looks, she could feel their judgements weighing down upon her and she sighed in defeat. She took another tiny sip and said, “Hmm…. I think it’s growing on me!”

“I’m so glad!” Lila smiled then continued to sell her lemonade at her ridiculous prices.

Ladybug grabbed Chat Noir’s hand and yo-yo’d out of the crowd and to a rooftop a couple streets over. He struggled to contain his excitement and grabbed her left hand and held it up. His string did not connect to her and he looked ready to cry, but way worse than Lila.

“Relax kitty, I can’t even see my string yet.” She pulled her hand out of his grasp. “Besides, we don’t know for sure if it is the lemonade or something that only you touched during our investigation.”

“True, but you also heard what Lila said, right?’ he began and he circled around her tauntingly. “It could take hours.”

“We don’t have **_hours_**!” Ladybug groaned and rolled her head in exhaustion. “That’s it, **_Lucky Charm_**!”

A television remote control dropped into her hands and she gave her usual look of confusion and initial knee-jerk reaction of “How the hell am I supposed to use **this**?”

Then an idea hit her and she pulled out her yo-yo and opened it up to see the screen. She opened the website for the local news and looked and all of their articled regarding the incident.

“That’s right, tomorrow morning the news is going to interview a ton of the couples and ask them exactly what they all did.” She said in realization. “The news crew will do the investigating for us! All we have to do is go home and go to bed for now.”

Chat frowned, but understood. “Well, I guess we’ll call it a night then, M’lady?”

“I suppose it’s best that we’re well rested for tomorrow.” She said then turned and anchored her yo-yo to a chimney across the street.

“But wait, before I go…” she started and she turned to him, yo-yo string stretched across the street still. “Before the morning news, meet me on the bakery balcony, it’ll be better if we watch the news together.”

“Okay, but why there? Also, I have school in the morning.” Chat said curiously.

“It’s just the best meeting place for us it seems, especially for this particular akuma. Besides, I have school too and the news comes on an hour before I have to leave. It’ll give us time to meet up, brainstorm together, and we can go our separate ways before the hour is up.” She said and yoinked herself across the way before he could reply.

 _‘I wonder how awkward it is for Marinette to have her balcony be used as a superhero landing pad everyday?’_ Chat thought as he made his way home. _‘I just hope Ladybug’s string appears before the news in the morning. I don’t think my heart can take the waiting anymore….’_


	6. Chapter 6

Eyes and Lies on the Prize

Ch. 6 – When Fate Mocks You, Mock It Back

A tall blonde man with smoldering green eyes stood in front of the Agreste mansion at sunset. The streets of Paris were erupting with the excitement of the thread epidemic, but it was of no consequence to him. He rang the doorbell and was greeted by Nathalie on the screen.

“Andre?” she recognized him, he was a fashion intern who volunteered at the contest a few days ago.

“Hello there, I wish to speak to Gabriel Agreste.” The man said suavely.

“He is by appointment only, but if you’re looking for more volunteer work then I can give you-“

“No no, I’m here to make a trade deal.” He said darkly with a grin.

“You’ll have to schedule an appointment, he’s a very busy man.” She scowled at him. She didn’t like persistent pests.

“I know Ladybug’s contestant number.” He said with almost venom in his voice. “I’m willing to make a trade for this information.”

“Please, say no more. Come inside.” Nathalie said quickly and opened the gates then greeted him at the door.

Once he was inside the lobby she asked him to wait there and then made her way to Gabriel’s office.

“Sir, you **want** to take this.” Nathalie said stiffly. “Now.”

It was rare that Nathalie ever spoke in such a tone, much less made an actual demand of him. This was going to be good, whatever it was. Gabriel agreed and Andre was shown inside to his office where he casually plopped his rear into a chair, crossed his legs, and put his arms behind his head. Gabriel disliked his smugness, but tolerated it if Nathalie thought he could be of use.

“Well, what is it? You’re interrupted my online meeting with my American agents. Make it quick!” he demanded.

“How would you like to find out who Ladybug is?” Andre said knowingly. Gabriel’s gaze narrowed and his nose wrinkled. “Oh please, spare me the details. I already know that your stocks and sales went through the roof in the last two days since the contest. Ladybug almost doubled your net value with minimal effort.”

“How do you think you could possibly know her identity? How can we trust that you and your sources are reliable?” he said almost angrily, he knew a scam when he smelled one.

Andre pulled out a folded and crumpled slip of paper and held it up. “I was one of the volunteer guards at the contest, I stopped by every single booth in the contest at some point and I remember the mask Ladybug was wearing and who made it. I didn’t get her name, but I got her contestant number.”

Gabriel’s chest tightened and he inhaled sharply. “What are your demands?”

“Straight to the point I see!” Andre chuckled and slipped the piece of paper back into his pocket safely. “I want the phone number and address of one of the patrol guards from the contest. She was a tall blonde in a white dress. Her badge said “Lally”, but she wasn’t listed as a volunteer, a paid worker, nor a contestant in any of the sign up sheets.”

Nathalie and Gabriel locked eyes and exchange confused glances. “I have never heard of this girl before.” Gabriel said stiffly. “But I assure you I will stop at nothing to find out who she is. For now, mind giving me that paper?” he asked as he approached.

“No!” he shot up from his chair. “I’ll give it to you **_after_** you find Lally.”

“Why is this girl such an interest of yours and not Ladybug herself?” Gabriel pondered.

“Oh please, I don’t stand a chance with ladybug, but Lally though….. Hnnng!” he moaned loudly and bit his lips. “She was one of a kind!” he faked a swoon.

Gabriel felt his insides churn. He considered just calling Gorilla in and having him forcefully take the note and kicking this idiot out of his house, but he had a reputation to uphold. Any act of disgrace to the Agreste brand could destroy it, especially if it was a news article about beating up one of Adrien’s old rivals.

“Why do you think I’m so desperate for Ladybug’s identity that I’d go through such extreme lengths for her contestant number?” he asked pensively.

“Duh, you want to find her and make her join your brand label!” he made a dumb face and laughed. “She’ll make you even richer than you are now and worldwide famous! It was a no-brainer to figure out!”

“Give me time and I’ll give you that girl on a silver platter, but in the meantime **_do not_** tell anyone about this or tell them her number.” Gabriel said with a sneer.

Andre smirked victoriously. “Didn’t plan on it!”

As Andre was permitted to leave the mansion, Gabriel watched him from the window. A plan formulating in his mind. “Nathalie, we need to check on the last akuma. I lost contact with it and the butterfly hasn’t returned. It’s obvious that Ladybug didn’t cleanse it. The akuma victim didn’t act accordingly, I’ve never seen an akumatized person retain so much of their own free will. I can’t even summon a new akuma until that one is cleansed or retreats. I can’t even recall it back to me!”

“Sir, is it possible that this is a trap?” Nathalie asked rather concerned. “I know very little about him outside of the usual rumors about him from a few years ago.”

“No. He’s a fizzled-out model that once competed with Adrien. He’s a complete disgrace and idiot. He’s no threat. He’s not smart enough to set a trap.” Gabriel said as he opened his laptop screen and looked at the meeting paused, awaiting his return.

“I wonder why this Lally has him so enamored though….” She pondered. “Who is she?”

“Who indeed.” Gabriel mused as he unmuted himself from the call with his oversea agents and resumed his meeting.

\--------

Marinette had set her alarm and woke up at five in the morning to make breakfast and take a shower before the news began at six. She made her way downstairs in her pajamas to find her parents well into their morning ritual of preparing for the breakfast rush. Sabine spotted her precious child and handed her a box of hot food and a hot tea. Marinette didn’t usually eat bakery food for meals, but sometimes when in a hurry she’d grab a croissant or a latte to go. This was a rare treat that her parents made time in their busy morning to make her favorite breakfast croissant with egg whites and cheese.

“Thanks mom!” she chirped and kissed the woman on the cheek.

“Make sure you drink all your tea, it’ll sooth your soul!” Sabine said as she returned the cheek kiss. “You were so upset last night, I hope the tea brings you peace, dear.”

“I’m sure it will, you make the best tea in Paris!” Marinette said then took a sip and exhaled slowly. “Ahh! It’s perfect! Not too sweet, not too bitter, and just the right amount of honey to floral ratio!”

Sabine sighed in relief as she watched her daughter take another sip of tea as she climbed the stairs back to her room. She placed a hand over her chest and smiled softly before going back to work. _‘Oh, thank goodness, she can find her prince now!’_

Marinette downed her tea and breakfast croissant in a hurry and hopped in the shower. She closed her eyes as she shampooed and conditioned her hair. It wasn’t until she started shaving her right armpit that she saw something she definitely wasn’t expecting. She gasped as she held up her left hand that held her razor and saw the red thread tied around her left pinky finger. She tried grabbing it with her right hand, but it was untouchable, like it was part of her soul and not of the physical realm. She looked around to see that it phased through the shower wall and pointed to the outside world.

She hurried to finish her shower as fast as possible and bolted into her bedroom to dry off. “Tikki!” she shouted as she fumbled around her closet for her clothes. “Tikki help!” she whined as she sat bare ass on her floor with her towel over her head and her long hair draped over the floor. The kwami flew over to the distraught girl and inspected her to see what was wrong, but saw nothing out of the ordinary except her behavior.

“Marinette, what’s wrong?” Tikki asked as she flew all around her to inspect the situation closer.

“Tikki, my string appeared!” she said as she threw the towel off and put her underwear and bra on. “I’m supposed to watch the news together with Chat Noir in a few minutes and all of a sudden my string appears! Why now!?” she said in a panic as she bounced around putting her pants on her wet legs. “Did I just not notice it when I woke up and went down stairs? Did it appear in the shower? Overnight? When!?” she wailed as she pranced around struggling to put her clothes on her wet body.

Tikki braced herself for the day ahead of them, knowing full well that an identity reveal was a very possible thing if they didn’t catch this akuma before it was too late. “Marinette, it’s time for plan B, you need to call Chat Noir and cancel! Tell him to watch the news on his own at home!”

Fate mocked her as she saw her string move rapidly. Marinette’s eyes went from the moving string to Tikki and back, then to Tikki and back to the string again, over and over again. Marinette slowly buttoned her pants and threw her t-shirt on as the string was now pointing directly overhead.

Her soulmate was on her balcony.

“Unless Adrien learned to fly, I think we have a problem here Tikki…” she slumped to the floor in denial.

She slowly crawled to her bed’s stairs and made that dizzy climb up the ladder to her bed and froze just under the hatch when the string moved even closer. She trembled as she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

_“M’lady?”_

It was so innocent and soft, she barely heard it.

 _‘Is it Chat Noir talking to Marinette or Ladybug? Is it Adrien talking to Marinette or Ladybug? Did Chat Noir bring Adrien with him to help him find his string? Is this an akuma just fucking with people’s hearts? Am I dreaming?’_ Her mind raced as fast as her heart.

“Marinette…” Tikki whispered, realizing it was too late for plan B. “It’s ok, just go. Don’t hesitate anymore. No matter what, it’s gonna be okay.”

Marinette nodded and pushed the hatch up a few inches. All Chat Noir saw was a pair of hands with a red string and bluebell eyes peering back at him curiously, full of awe and wonder. As they locked eyes the string clearly connected the two of them together. Her heart was in her ears and throat, and his adrenaline spiked from his head to his toes, bursting with excitement. He closed the distance between them and kneeled down to extend his left hand to her. She pushed the hatch open all the way to reveal a soaking wet, untamed Marinette. Her hair was loose and wet, strands stuck to her cherry cheeks and her white shirt with no jacket finished off the wild look. She took his left hand with her left hand, the string tangling around their hands as she did so.

He gently pulled her up out of the hatch and into his arms where he wrapped himself around her tightly. The smell of her freshly washed hair filled his nose and the feeling of her weak hands clinging to his sides as she trembled in his grasp was surreal. For a brief moment he was just happy he knew who his soulmate was and that it was Marinette, like Ladybug ceased to exist for just this small moment in time. As soon as he remembered that reality existed, he pulled back a bit and gasped slightly.

“I was honestly not expecting this.” He said shyly as he let go of her.

“Neither was I.” she admitted. She was a lot calmer than she thought she’d be, especially considering she didn’t even mentally prepare herself for if Chat Noir actually did turn out to be her soulmate **_and not Adrien_**. A wave of agony washed over her heart, but she pushed it back down and reminded herself that soulmates were soulmates for a reason and that it meant Chat Noir was made for her somehow. Tikki’s words echoes in her mind.

_‘No matter what, it’s gonna be okay.’_

“To be honest, I always knew deep down inside that I liked you.” He said as he turned his back to her. “A lot!” he added with vigor. “I just didn’t realize that we were **_actually_** made for each other.”

“I’m sorry I was so blinded this whole time.” She said softly. _‘I pushed him away for Adrien…. I rejected my soulmate for five years for another man….’_

“I’m the one who’s sorry!” he said as he said as he slumped down into her lawn chair. “I’m just going to have to break the news to-“

“Ah! Chat! The news!” she panicked and jumped down into her room and flipped on her television. Luckily the news story hadn’t actually begun yet and Chat Noir dropped onto her bed and slid to stand next to her.

 _‘I wonder why Ladybug is so late…’_ he thought worriedly. _‘Maybe she got her string and chased her soulmate instead of coming here….’_

The television was on in a flash and there was no need to flip through channels to find the local news, every single channel was airing Nadja’s special on the red thread phenomenon. Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Paris, mainly conglomerated on the street the bakery was located; right outside Marinette’s balcony.

**[We have good news and bad news, this string issue is becoming less of a miracle and more of a problem! Some married couples are finding out that they aren’t soulmates and it is driving Parisians mad! There have been over one thousand files for divorce in the last few hours and on the opposite side of the story the venues for weddings are booked for the next few years solid! Price gouging is causing people to go bankrupt all across main street in an attempt to discover the secrets of what’s causing this whole ordeal!]**

“Chat, this is bad!” Marinette whined out worriedly.

“You’re right, this isn’t natural…..” he said with slumped shoulders. “We’re so supposed to find each other in the wild and make those wonderful first memories, not find each other in a phone book or through some greater force that just decides for us….Like a dating website….”

She gave him a sympathetic look and turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down into a loose hug. He returned the hug and sighed into her damp hair. _‘I’m just lucky that I got to know Marinette at school first. Otherwise I’d be kind of crushed finding out my soulmate was almost a total stranger.’_

**[Before we get to the interviews we have to discourage people from draining their bank accounts in their search for true love. Last night many Parisians filmed Chat Noir and Ladybug as they went from store to store investigating for possible akumas. Since the craze is still happening we are unsure what information the heroic duo came up with or if in fact we are secretly under attack. Please proceed in your quest for your soulmate with extreme caution! Now let’s go over to the studio where we have some couples eager to answer your highest asked questions.]**

The camera cut to Nadja and a pre-recorded interview with four couples. Nadja had cue cards and sat center stage while each couple sat to her stage left.

“So you four couples are just some of thousands from the streets of Paris to have suddenly found your soulmate after a mysterious day out downtown. Our first question from viewers is….” She paused to flip her cue card over. “Did you eat or drink anything?”

The man of the first couple spoke up, “We were friends for a long time, so not total strangers. We were having a group meeting of about twelve of us in total when one of our friends picked up our drinks from a local bakery. Then we went to brunch at _Veno e Cena_ and ordered the lasagna and two glasses of chardonnay. During the meal we noticed our strings tied together, as did some of our friends get their own strings.”

The woman spoke up next, “I always had the **biggest** crush on him and couldn’t tell him, but when that string appeared, I just knew everything was going to work out!”

Chat Noir’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Marinette. “That Italian restaurant is the one who gave Lila the water for her lemonade. What if they boiled their lasagna noodles in it?”

Marinette didn’t reply, she kept watching.

“Couple number two, what did you eat or drink during your trip downtown yesterday?” Nadja asked.

“Well, let’s see” a woman said as she tapped her chin. “I had a free sample of gelato from _Veno e Cena_ , but they import that directly from Italy, so I’m not sure how useful that is.” She frowned, the woman holding her had giggled.

“We didn’t eat at _Veno e Cena_ though, we ended up eating dinner at a small Japanese sushi place called _Akashio._ We had the tuna rolls and shrimp tempura with hot green tea. Then later that night on our way home we got some nice hot jasmine tea from this bakery and café. We did have dessert at Andre’s ice cream stand at midnight, but that was after our string appeared.” The woman shrugged.

“Such a lovely couple!” Nadja smiled at the two women. “Okay couple three, what’s your story?”

“So it was **_crazy!_** ” the man started out with hand gestures as he spoke. “We were on a class field trip, I was from San Fransisco to Paris, and she was from Stockholm to Paris, we were two totally unrelated class trips at the same hotel. The news started going nuts at around bed time, then we snuck out of the hotel at night to go see all this business about red string of fate and such. We ended up doing a little bit of everything. We ordered sushi from Akashio, gelato and wine from Veno e Cena, cookies and tea from Dupain-Cheng’s, and then we got ice cream from that Andre guy!”

“In that order?” Nadja asked.

“Yeah, in that order!” he responded.

The girl clinging to his arms giggled and said, “We totally ran into Andre by accident though! We didn’t eat **_together_** at any of those other places. I didn’t eat at Veno e Cena, only at Akashio and Dupain-Cheng’s. It was the red string that led us to one another and we happened to meet at Andre’s.”

“Very interesting, now couple four?” Nadja turned to the last couple.

The two men looked at each other and nodded. One of them began by clearing their throat and coughing slightly. “I uhm….” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I was already dating Mark, but w-we weren’t quite out of the c-closet yet, so this is a bit new for us both.” The redhead said with a small stutter.

“It’s okay Nathaniel, I can take it from here.” Mark placed a hand atop his and continued their story. “We stopped by the Dupain-Cheng bakery to say hi to one of our classmates, but she wasn’t there. So we shared a latte and some croissants. We did end up at Akashio’s before we found another classmate’s lemonade stand and had some of that. We didn’t care for it much so we went back to the Dupain-Cheng bakery for some tea to balance out our palettes. It wasn’t until our walk home that we realized that we’d gotten our red thread.” Mark said as he interlaced his fingers with Nathaniel’s.

Marinette sighed desperately. “Oh no…the bakery is the only thing those stories had in common….”

Chat watched as she slumped into her chaise lounge and moped. “Well at least we have a lead now.” He said trying to be optimistic. “But we already checked the bakery….”

“I’m gonna go to school now, don’t follow me.” She said in near depression as she put her jacket on and tied up her damp hair. “I just need some time to think is all.”

“I understand.” He agreed as she made her way down stairs and into the overloaded bakery. He was about to ascend her stairs to her bed when she came back up and yanked on his tail. “What’s wrong?”

She gave a sheepish grin. “Mind getting me out of here discretely? The bakery is crowded and I would never make it out the front door alive!”

He scooped her up in his arms and leapt up to the balcony where they were met with the sight of a roaring sea of lovebirds pecking at every inch of downtown Paris. He carried her bridal style across the buildings and leapt down to a much less populated street where he set her down. A few onlookers took note of the weird sight of Chat Noir carrying a random civilian before moving on with their day. As where it was common for Char Noir and Ladybug to help with non-akuma issues, it was still bizarre for them to witness it so nonchalantly. Marinette waved him off and ran to her school where she felt utterly alone. When she sat down in her usual assigned seat the class wasn’t even half full. Alya and Nino were there for the long haul, but Adrien, Nathaniel, Mark, Chloe, Sabrina, Rose, and Juleka were all missing.

“Geez,” Alya scoffed. “All these lovers out chasing akuma-fantasies!”

“You really think it’s an akuma too?” Marinette asked worriedly.

“Yeah, and girl, I’m surprised you aren’t out looking for Adrien. What gives?” the girl raised a brow at her friend.

“Oh uhm…” Marinette paused as she looked at Adrien’s empty seat in front of her. “It’s complicated.”

“Oh no!” Alya said as she grabbed Marinette’s left hand and inspected it as she adjusted her glasses. “Did you get your string? It would make sense seeing as you live at the bakery.”

“Y-yeah…” she muttered lowly.

“Did you find who it connects to?” Alya asked eagerly.

Marinette refused to speak. Alya’s grin fell and she placed a hand on her shoulder. “It can’t be **_that_** bad, can it? Who is it?”

“It’s just unexpected is all.” She said as her longing gaze at the seat before her began to fill with tears.

“Man!” Nino whined out suddenly. “I was really hoping you and Adrien were soulmates.”

“R-really?” Marinette’s head whipped over to look at him. “Why though?”

“Do you know how much more fun that motel night would have been if you and Adrien were dating and you were there with us?” Nino groaned.

“Oh, I heard about that, it must’ve been fun.” Marinette put her head down on the desk.

“Ladybug is awesome and all, but honestly…I would have preferred you there instead of her.” Alya said and patted her back harshly.

Marinette turned her head so that her cheek was on the cold wood of the desk and gave a weak smile up at her friend. “Thanks.” She whispered sincerely. Marinette caught the sight of her red string moving from her right to her left, the small bouncing movement told her that Chat Noir was jumping from rooftop to rooftop on his way to school across town. Her heart fluttered very briefly.

Marinette let out a small cough and her head shot up. She coughed again much louder and placed a hand on her chest. A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it. Alya gave her a look before turning back to Nino once Marinette stopped her coughing fit. Their teacher came in and set a stack of papers on her desk and tapped her ruler on the desk to gain everyone’s attention.

“Okay class, since there’s a security issue going on just down the street the school board has just decided to cancel class for the day. They have ruled it unsafe for students to be out in public with all these crowds. Several brawls broke out last night and one just overtook main street a few minutes ago. Many parents already withheld their kids from coming and most classes aren’t even half full and therefore we won’t be conducting class today. We’ll give your parents a call this evening and let them know if there will be class tomorrow or not. For now, take some homework home with you and we’ll have your parents come get you all.”

Marinette shot up from her desk. “Mrs. Bustier, this decision doesn’t make any sense. Many of us live on main street and it would be even more dangerous for us to go home. School is the safer option!”

“There are only four students in the whole school who live on the same streets as the crowds are invading.” The teacher said then made her way to Marinette’s side. “Those four students, you included Marinette, have to stay here or go home with a friend. Do you have a friend’s house you can go to?”

“Uhhh” Marinette began slowly, trying to process what was happening.

“She can go home with me, she lives at my house part-time anyways! My folks never say no to my best friend!” Alya blurted out before Marinette could reply.

“Oh thank goodness.” Bustier said and took a sigh of relief. “Well, get going then!”

The trio took their homework and made their way to the front of the school where Alya’s older sister picked them up. The car ride was a bit awkward with the three of them squished into the backseat of a small European car while Nora drove and the lunch catering buckled up in the front passenger seat. “Hey, wouldn’t it make more sense to put the food in the back and one of us in the front?” Alya griped and Nora chuckled heartily at her sister.

“The most important cargo gets the front seat, besides, if I left it back there with you two, you’d eat it before we got home!” Nora said as she intentionally took a sharp turn to smoosh them. Alya growled.

After an agonizing car ride to the Cesaire house, they settled into Alya’s room. Alya flopped down on her bed and Nino gently sat next to her and petted her hair. Marinette sat down in the computer chair and crossed her legs with her bookbag in her lap. She anxiously watched as her red string stayed still, wondering if Chat Noir’s school got cancelled like hers did or not. Alya let out an exasperated sigh and sat up.

“This is so boring!” she complained as she stretched and cracked her back.

“Totally, at least let us go out and join the fun on main street!” Nino agreed with a huff.

Marinette eyed the two of them suspiciously. “Have either of you gotten your red threads yet?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“Aren’t you curious?”

“Nope!” Alya smiled proudly. “I already know Nino is the one, I don’t need an akuma to tell me that!”

As Alya pinched his cheek he gave her a dim look. “I know we’re soulmates babe, but what would you do if you found out we weren’t?”

“Simple, I’d cut the threads and tie ours together!” she said with a wet smooch on his cheek. “I’d tie the other two together of course, just so no one is left out!” she added with a giggle.

Marinette’s heart melted at the sight of such true love, but the heartache of her own situation came back to her. _‘Andre, I hope you turn out to be nicer than I thought.’_

“Gurl, you really gotta tell us what’s wrong….” Alya said with great concern evident in her voice. “You’re actually crying right now. Who is this guy?”

Marinette hadn’t realized that a tear has fallen down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. “It’s not Adrien.”

“We know.” They said in unison.

“It’s just…some guy I’ve only met once…” she lied. “And it wasn’t a good experience….”

“Oh no, spill the deets.” Alya said sternly. “We’ll whip him into boyfriend shape for you!”

“Yeah, you deserve the best boyfriend in Paris!” Nino said encouragingly, only to get a look from Alya.

Marinette smiled at them both before swallowing hard. As she swallowed, she felt something in her throat and coughed harshly a few times. Alya opened her mini-fridge and handed her a bottle of water and Marinette chugged it with a relived gasp at the end.

“Oh man, maybe coming to school with wet hair got me sick already?” she moaned out tiredly.

“You’re not getting away from the conversation **_that_** easily chika, spill it! What happened between you and your soulman?” Alya asked stiffly.

Marinette sighed in defeat. “I first met him at the fashion contest for Modella Magazine with the Agrestes. He was one of the patrol guards and he hit on me and made me uncomfortable, he said a bunch of inappropriate stuff about how he chases every cute girl he sees and all this other nonsense about liking it when I’m pouting and he enjoys making me uncomfortable.”

 ** _“Honey, throw the whole man out. Let me cut your string! Nino, go get Adrien!”_** Alya said with a deep demonic tone.

“Oh jeez, men like that really exist in the wild? I thought they only did that online where they couldn’t get caught…” Nino grimaced.

“Babe, they’re very real, and **_very dangerous_**.” Alya said with her hand on her forehead. She grabbed Nino and Marinette by the arms and dragged them out of the house saying, “We’re gonna find him and give him a piece of our minds!”

Marinette resisted and struggled with pleas of desperation. “No, I don’t want to see him! I’m okay with being a crazy cat lady forever!” The irony of her own words wasn’t lost on her and the moment they left her mouth she stopped resisting.

“Gurl, lead the way!” Alya pushed Marinette to the front. With a soft sigh she began trudging up the sidewalk where Alya’s car was parked and she got in the front passanger side. Nino got in the back and Alya turned the car on.

“Head North.” Marinette instructed with something that was the utter opposite of enthusiasm. “Now turn right……keep going straight, we’re almost there….left….”

“Damn, does this guy live all the way across France?” Alya groaned as she looked at her gas tank.

“There! He’s on the top floor of that building!” Marinette said and pointed at a tall business.

The trio parked and got out, but to their dismay they couldn’t get inside the building.

“Sorry kids, this building is for Modella Magazine employees only. Do you have an appointment?” the guard asked.

Marinette sighed and turned to walk away, but Alya caught her arm and yanked her back. “I’m Alya Cesaire, and these are my stooges. I run the Ladyblog and I happen to have an inside scoop for the magazine directly from ladybug herself. You know, the **_winner of the contest that they’re literally doing an article on_**?” she lied.

The guard gave her a look up and down before having an ‘ _aha’_ moment. “I do recognize you, but you still need an appointment.” He frowned.

“Can’t you phone in that there’s urgent Ladybug business afoot?” she asked annoyed.

“I-I’ll see what I can do…” he said before entering the building. After a couple of moments he returned. “Alright, but only Cesaire can go inside, the both of you need to wait out here.”

“Don’t worry girl, I got this!” Alya winked and gave a thumbs up.

“Wait!” Marinette grabbed her and leaned in to whisper in her ear. _“His name is Andre, he’s about Luka’s age and height and he has shaggy blonde hair and green eyes. I never found out his last name. Right now he’s on the top floor, I’ll text you if he moves.”_

Alya nodded and she was allotted inside the building. She was escorted to front desk where she was looked up and down like a piece of meat by the secretary. “Alya Cesaire I suppose?” she asked and Alya nodded. “The director and all of our reporters are super busy at the moment, but I can take down your story if you’d like.”

“Sorry, but I have a message from Ladybug directly to Andre.” Alya lied.

The secretary gave her a suspicious look. “Andre Bourgeois?”

“No, not the mayor!” Alya facepalmed and the secretary laughed heartily.

“Oh, why didn’t you say so sooner! Andre Duval is our head photographer of forty years, he’s not in today though.”

“No, the Andre I need to speak to is a teenager and he’s supposed to be on the top floor right now.” Alya insisted.

The woman blinked then let loose a cackle a hyena witch would envy before calming down. “Oh, **_him_! _Andre Lopez_ ….** _”_ She wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. “He’s in a meeting at the moment with the CEO and their top clients. I’ll page him down. Go wait in the sitting area.”

Alya sat down and crossed her legs as she texted Marinette. **[ALYA: Got ‘em! He’s on his way to me. Apparently his name is Andre Lopez, it kind of sounds familiar.]**

**[MARINETTE: Great job, I see he’s coming down the elevator he’s moving so fast. Yeah that name is familiar, I wonder why.]**

**[ALYA: Don’t worry, I’ll let him know he’s got eyes on him. I’ll turn him into a right proper boyfriend for you!]**

Up on the top floor Mr. Modella and Gabriel Agreste were shaking hands on their new deal while Adrien, Andre, and several other models stood off to the side clapping. A guard poked his head in the room and waved a finger at the models who all came over to him.

“Listen, Mr. Duval isn’t here today, and since it’s a rare day that schools are all closed down and you’re all here, we have an amateur photographer waiting for you in the studio.” The guard said and the models nodded. “Now, Andre, you have a guest with an urgent message from someone in the lobby. Once you’re done there head on over with the others.”

“A message for me?” Andre’s eyebrow quirked curiously. “Can’t they wait until the shoot is over? It’s my first shoot since my blunder a few years ago.”

Adrien laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them start without you.”

“They don’t wait for washed up _hazbins_.” Chuckled one of the model girls.

Adrien shot her a look and turned back to Andre. “I’ll go with you, they won’t start without us, I promise.” He winked and Andre smiled. Together the two models descended the elevator and made their way to Alya who looked dumbfounded at the duo.

“Huh? Adrien?” Alya gave a confused glare at him. Adrien shrugged sheepishly. Alya turned her sights on Andre who stood there awkwardly. She grabbed Andre by the wrist and said “I needed him alone, we’ll be right back.”

As she dragged Andre away from the flustered Adrien she rounded a corner to the vending machines and crossed her arms and leered at him. He looked her up and down and put a finger to his chin.

“You know, you’re not my usual type, but you’ve got cute curves and luscious hair!” he smirked and put his hand up against the wall, Alya disengaged in disgust. “Too bad I’m sold on the girl of my dreams or I’d ask you out.”

“Gross!” she sneered at him. “First of all I’m taken, second of all why aren’t you chasing after your soulmate?”

“Pfft!” he rolled his eyes at her. “No interest in that silly nonsense! It’s probably a fake akuma and everyone knows it!” 

“So then, you don’t want the girl from the contest afterall, huh? I see how it is.” She said and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I can set you two up, for a price.”

He gave her a look of intrigue and his whole stance shifted from cocky to uneasy. “Gabriel Agreste has already sworn that he’ll find her for me. What makes you think you can do better than him?”

“Oh, because I **_already have_**! I’m friends with her.” Alya wagged her finger sassily. “I can get you the girl of your dreams, I just need a little something in return from you.”

The wicked look in Alya’s eyes said more than he needed to know.

“You run the Ladyblog, I thought I recognized you. I know what you want…” he said cautiously as he pulled out a slip of folded paper in his pocket and held it up. She gave him a confused look and she extended her hand out slowly. “Ah, ah, ah!” he said sarcastically. “Write down her number and address and it’s all yours!”

Alya had no idea what this paper was, but curiosity overwhelmed her and she agreed. She pulled out a pen and paper from her purse and wrote down Marinette’s number and address. _‘It’s not like she’s hard to find, everyone in town knows Marinette lives at the bakery and she’s publicly listed in the phone book.’_ She thought as she handed him the paper with nothing but a number and address on it. He handed her his paper and she took his paper.

“My other condition is that you be nice to her.” Alya said and crossed her arms. “I’ll make your life hell if you break her heart or you’re mean to her! And no hitting on other girls if you date her!”

He gave her a two finger salute and a cocky grin. “With this one, I won’t be able to even look at other girls, otherwise I’d’ve asked you out already!” he chuckled out and slipped Marinette’s information into his pocket and made his way back to Adrien.

 _‘Lally is at long last mine!’_ he thought devious as he and Adrien made their way to the photoshoot.

As Alya was walking towards the front of the building to meet up with Marinette and Nino again, she glanced at the folded paper. _‘Three hundred thirty five? What is this supposed to mean?’_ she looked completely and utterly confused as she walked out the door.

“Hey, how’d it go babe?” Nino asked as he ran up to her.

“Honestly, I’m not so sure.” Alya looked back up and him then to the nervous Marinette. “Her gave me this paper and all it says is three hundred and thirty five. Any ideas what this means?”

Marinette’s heart almost stopped. “ _Alya_ …” she said with barely a whisper. “ _Alya, can I have that?”_

“Sure, it means nothing to me.” Alya said and handed Marinette the paper who in return shredded it and threw it in the trash can.

“Did he even reference what that number was?” she asked with a rough grasp on Alya’s shoulders.

“Oof! No!” she winced in pain. “He did mention trading it to Gabriel Agreste for you number, but he made the trade with me instead. I have no idea why though.”

“Wait, wait, wait ,wait!” Marinette grabbed her ponytails and pulled. “ ** _What_**!?” she shrieked.

 _‘Chat Noir was gonna sell me out to Gabriel Agreste!? How could he!?’_ her heard was full of both rage and sorrow as he face twisted into something akin to an abstract art painting.

Suddenly Marinette’s phone began to ring and her heart resumed it’s usual position. In her stomach.

“Oh phew… It’s Adrien, not Andre!” she sighed in relief and answered the phone. “H-hello?”

“Hey, I snuck away from my photoshoot for a minute just to talk to you, so I don’t have much time.” Adrien said panting. “Don’t date Andre, he’s a horrible person. I try to maintain a polite acquaintanceship with him, but he’s a truly horrible person deep down! Don’t do it!”

“How did you know he was going to ask me out?” Marinette asked.

“He was flaunting a piece of paper with your number saying he found the girl of his dreams. I know your number by heart and your address. I don’t know why Alya gave that to him, but please don’t date him! There’s a reason he got a four year suspension from modeling at Modella. He used to be my rival, but he got accused of some shady stuff and even though they couldn’t prove it, they knew he did it so they fired him. He’s being given a second chance here at Modella, but he’ll never have a second chance at friendships with the people here. **_Please do not talk to him_**!” he pleaded.

“I didn’t intend to, and thank you for looking out for me.” Marinette said as she felt her blood pressure dropping. She could hear his ragged sigh on the other end of the phone.

“Be safe.” He said gingerly. Her heart melted for Adrien, but her soul froze over at his plea for her to ignore **_Chat Noir_**.

Marinette and Adrien said their goodbyes and Alya and Nino took her back to Alya’s house for a late lunch. Meanwhile Adrien was just hanging up the phone and taking deep breaths to regain his composure. He’d ran from the photoshoot to the restroom to make the phone call to Marinette, unbeknownst to him he’d been followed.

By Andre.

A very angry Andre.

“I thought you were better than everyone else here.” Andre said as he walked up to Adrien from behind. “I actually admired you for not stooping to the other models’ lows.”

“I have to protect my friends. Just because you don’t have any doesn’t mean I have to sympathize with you.” Adrien said through grit teeth as he turned to face him.

“That girl is **_mine_**!” Andre said as he grabbed Adrien’s shoulders and slammed him up against the wall. “Call her back and tell her there was a mix up! Make up an excuse!”

“No, I will not endanger my friend so you can have your new side piece!” Adrien growled back as him and tried pushing him off, but to no avail. Andre was a little taller and a lot more muscular than him.

“It’s not like I’m gonna hurt her!” Andre said as he pressed harder.

“Yes you are! Yes you are!” Adrien repeated as his hands went for Andre’s wrists, digging his nails into them. “You break every girl’s heart! You abuse your looks and charm and cheat on every girl you date! I will not watch a friend go through that!”

Adrien attempted to kick him off and Andre threw him to the floor and got on top of him. A few punches were thrown, both landing on the others’ face. Screaming, shouting, and loud noises of all sorts could be heard from the two and a few employees came into the bathroom to see the mess and called for security. Adrien managed to kick Andre off of him and stand up. He grabbed paper towels from the dispenser and held them up to his mouth.

“You’re really gonna risk your career over a girl you barely know?” Adrien asked as he wiped a dribble of blood from his lower lip. “How pathetic!”

Adrien coughed a few times and covered his mouth with the napkin. Expecting more blood, but instead he curiously saw something pink. He gave it a quick concerning glance; a pink flower petal. Andre’s voice brought him back to the situation at hand rather rudely.

“Lally is the only girl I want! I won’t cheat on this one!” Andre said as he staggered to his feet.

Adrien’s eyes opened wide for a moment as he muttered the name “Lally?” before letting loose a loud laugh. “Lally!?” he repeated, the flower petal long forgotten. His laughter roared and echoed through the bathroom.

“What’s so damn funny?” Andre asked with a bloody sneer.

“ _Oh Andre!”_ Adrien said in a girly voice and pranced over to him and laid his hands on the man’s shoulders. _“Oh Andre!”_ he repeated as he laid his hand on his should and lifted a leg. _“I didn’t know you were so willing to fight another man for me! You wanted Lally, well here I am darling!”_

Realization dawned on Andre and he pushed Adrien away in disgust. “You cross-dressing pervert!”

“Oh, **_I’m_** the pervert?” Adrien scoffed then laughed again. “Wait until the committee finds out that you sexually harassed me in my disguise. You’ll never model again.” Adrien coughed again, holding the napkin to his mouth. Another pink flower petal. _‘What the fuck?’_

Andre stifled a sob as he sank to his knees. “Was it really you at the contest?”

“Yes.” Adrien said darkly, turning his attention back to Andre. “And that number you were given is from a random other contestant who has nothing to do with this whole situation. **_A good friend of mine_. ** Alya was probably just confused and I’d be surprised if she even knew who you were.”

Andre held up the piece of paper and examined it. Adrien swiped it and shredded it then threw it in an adjacent toilet and flushed it. Andre’s lip quivered in both fear and disappointment. “Wait, Alya now knows Ladybug’s contestant number!” Andre shouted. “I traded it for that number and address.”

“What? Alya wouldn’t sell out a friend for that information.” Adrien grimaced.

“Well I didn’t directly tell her that that’s what it was. I just assumed she knew since she runs the Ladyblog. Oh man, Gabriel is gonna kill me!” Andre whined and grabbed his hair.

“Wait, what? What’s my father got to do with this? And how do you know Ladybug’s contestant number?” Adrien’s heart began to race.

“Augh!” Andre shrieked and spun around gripping his hair. “I’d made a deal with your father that in exchange for Ladybug’s contestant number he’d find out who Lally was and give me her phone number and address! Neither of us knew you were Lally!”

“Wait, go back to Ladybug. How do you know Ladybug’s contestant number?” he asked again.

“I was one of the patrol guards during the contest and I saw her making her mask. I even struck up a conversation with her after her transformation. I just remember her booth number because I wrote it down because I was gonna….gonnna…” he paused realizing what he was saying.

“You were gonna ask her out?” Adrien crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on his forearm. “After all that moving speech about Lally being your one and only?”

Andre sighed. “No.” he said flatly. “I just wanted to be loved again.” He said in defeat. “After Juliette dumped me, I wanted to find a girl that finesse and cute again, but I knew I stood no chance with Ladybug. So I went for Lally.”

 _‘Juliette Auclaire! Of course! That’s why her name was familiar!’_ Adrien thought.

“Is that why you’ve been acting like a lunatic and dating every girl you can get your hands on?” Adrien asked, his voice softening as he watched Andre weep a little and nod his head.

“Juliette was **_thee_** one and I blew it. Four years ago when she dumped me to go to London I kind of went off the rails.” Andre admitted. “I just wanted to fill the void in my heart, but I’m never satisfied with any girl. I never will be. So I chase them all down hoping she’ll get jealous or that one of them would be the new Juliette. None ever come close.”

“Why not go downtown and find your string?” Adrien suggested as he felt a wave of pressure lift off of his chest.

“Because I already know it’s Juliette.”

“Then show her!”

Before Andre could reply two security guards busted in and began to investigate the situation. Adrien knew he couldn’t hide the fist fight and that Andre’s career was about to be over, again. This time for good.

“Wait, it’s a misunderstanding!” Adrien said. “I started the fight!”

The guards looked him up and down and gave him an unusual look. “Okay, but we’re going to have to make an incident report.”

Adrien braced himself for his father’s reaction and allowed Andre to remain silent while he gave his side to the story and Andre merely nodded in agreement the whole time. Adrien kept the napkins up to his mouth as he coughed up yet another pink flower petal. He curiously examined it while the guards continued to bombard him with questions.

Meanwhile, Marinette was back at Alya’s house with Nino. They ate their Chinese food and pizza while watching the local news go crazy over the red string of fate. Marinette swallowed a bite of eggroll then began to cough harshly. She took a huge swig of her soda and continued to cough.

“Gurl, you need to see a doctor!” Alya said worriedly.

Something small came out of Marinette’s mouth and the coughing fit stopped. She held it up and examined it; a small flower petal that was green and black. Alya’s eyebrows scrunched together and Marinette looked disgusted at it.

“Eww!” she tossed it onto a napkin and the trio kept staring at it in awe. “Is that a flower petal?”

“Man, this is the last time we order from China Loaf!” Alya grimaced.

Every bite of food they ate was thoroughly examined for random flower petals. Even though they didn’t find anymore petals, they vowed to stick to their usual Chinese restaurant from now on. Marinette called her parents to let them know she was staying the night with Alya and that she would either go home or go to school early in the morning before the crowds hit the street again.

The night ended with the three of them in Alya’s enormous bed, Nino against the wall, Alya in the middle, and Marinette on the outside. She coughed a few times and another green and black flower petal emerged. She examined it curiously and squinted at it in the dim light of the room.

 _‘It kind of reminds me of Chat Noir…’_ her mind trailed off as she closed her eyes and let the petal fall onto the sheets. Sleep overtook her and she allowed her mind to be at rest for the first time that day.


	7. Chapter 7

Eyes and Lies on the Prize

Ch. 7 – Hanahaki Disease

“I’m incredibly disappointed in you, Adrien.” Gabriel said sternly from the other side of the desk. His son sat in the officer chair across from him at his office in the Modella building.

Adrien remained wordless and merely stared back at his father as he held the bloody napkin up to his mouth.

“What would your mother think of you now?” the man asked, hoping to invoke a reaction from his son.

Adrien refused to speak, instead he coughed harshly into the napkin, feeling a couple petals make their way out of his mouth.

“How bad is that cut on your lip? Will it scar?”

“No.” Adrien finally spoke, but his voice was lifeless and flat.

Gabriel groaned and stood up. “Gorilla will take you home, no detours. You’re not going to school until this _romance pandemic_ is over, and you’re certainly not modeling with a bruised cheek and a cut lip.”

Adrien stood up and left the office and made his way down to the lobby were Nathalie and Gorilla were waiting for him. He didn’t make a fuss when they lead him to the limo and took him straight back to the mansion. He kept the napkin firmly in place the whole time, watching as his red string remained still aside from his own movements. Once home he flopped down onto his bed and let the pink petals fall all around him. Plagg jumped out of his jacket and gasped.

“Oh no!” the kwami began as he examined the petals. “I haven’t seen this in hundreds of years!”

“You know what this is?” Adrien sat up on the bed.

“The last time Ladybug and the butterfly miraculous holder worked together for the greater good, they used the _tenshi_ on a Japanese man while in Edo Japan. He was bestowed with the powers to let other people see their soulmates by letting them see their red strings and if the two refused to confess their feelings they coughed up flowers until they confessed!”

Adrien’s eyebrow raised at him. “Wait, I’ve heard of that before!”

“Of course you have, it’s _Hanahaki Disease_ , and it’s very real!” Plagg explained. “It hasn’t happened in hundreds of years though! But humans in China, Japan, and Korea all recorded it in their history books. It’s usually taken as fantasy, but it actually happened! It was an akuma, a good akuma called a tenshi.”

“Why didn’t you tell me if you knew it was an akuma all along!?” Adrien hissed as he grabbed his kwami.

“Well I wasn’t sure until I saw the flower petals. The two aren’t usually related!” Plagg shrugged.

“Wait, what? Explain!” Adrien demanded.

“You see, the butterfly miraculous holder can bestow powers on anyone regardless of what emotion they’re feeling, they just have to feel **_strongly_**. When the butterfly of long ago gave the Japanese man his red string of fate powers he was feeling happy and was bursting with love. He wanted to show Ladybug her soulmate so she could pick a Chat Noir to fight by her side. Then when her soulmate was someone she didn’t like she asked him to change it, to cut the thread and resew it to another person. This upset him so much that his emotions changed from happy to angry and he gained a totally different power, the hanahaki. He’d made Ladybug throw up flower petals of her soulmate’s colors until she fell in love with him and confessed.”

Adrien’s head would be spinning in circles if it could. “Wait, so the new akumatized person is feeling both happy and angry?”

“I mean, probably!” Plagg shrugged. “There have been other people like in Korea and China that did the same things. In Korea one of the akumas was hanahaki, then in China the tenshi was the red string of fate. It gets super confusing from there. Only one other time has someone had both powers at once. Usually the red string of fate is a tenshi, a good version of an akuma, hence why I didn’t tell you. It’s supposed to be a blessing!”

“So it is the **_real deal_** then, right? Marinette is my soulmate for sure?” Adrien asked with puppy eyes.

“Yes.” Was all Plagg said. “And you’re coughing up her pink petals until you confess your true love to her.”

“But, my heart still wants Ladybug…” he said with a heavy heart. “Marinette is amazing and I’m sure I’d be perfectly happy with her, but….but…. It’ll be hard to let go of my lady after all this time loving her.”

“I promise you, it’s gonna be okay, no matter what!” Plagg said cheerfully. “You and Marinette were made for each other! Just give it time and you’ll see!”

Adrien smiled with his busted lip and closed his eyes. “I bet you’re right.” He said softly then laid himself down in his bed and looked up to the ceiling. He let sleep claim him and the flowers pooled around him as he coughed in his sleep. Plagg realized he’d forgotten some very big details, but saw how comfortably his mortal was sleeping and decided it could wait until the morning.

It was the middle of the night when the coughing fit shook Marinette out of her sleep. She awoke to a pool of black and green flower petals and she placed a hand over her mouth. She glanced at Alya and Nino who were sound asleep spooning. She gently slipped out of bed and tip toed to the bathroom and closed the door. She ran the tap water to create background noise and whispered for Tikki.

The kwami tiredly bumbled into the bathroom with a weak “Hey, it’s so early, what’s going on?”

Marinette coughed into the running sink, spewing out several more petals. Tikki rubbed her eyes in denial. “Oh no!”

“Tikki, what is this?”

“It’s an akuma afterall!”

After a brief explanation, Marinette cleaned up all the petals she could find and hurried out of the Cesaire house. She sent Alya a quick text about going home while the crowds were gone during the middle of the night. She ran all the way back to the bakery coughing up petals. She ducked behind a dumpster and transformed into Ladybug then leapt to the rooftops and onto her balcony discretely. She snuck back inside her own room and transformed back into Marinette. The clock read four in the morning and she threw herself into her desk chair and turned her computer on. Tikki floated up to her and examined her google search.

“You know, hanahaki disease doesn’t go away when you cleanse the akuma, right?” the kwami asked worriedly.

“I know, you told me.” Marinette sighed out. “With how Adrien spoke of Andre I don’t know if I could ever give him a sincere confession. I’d be lying if I said it!”

“Oh dear, this has become a twisted mess!” Tikki said as she flopped herself onto a small bed Marinette had sewn her years ago. “This has got to be the hardest I’ve ever kept a secret!”

“What secret?” Marinette’s eyes shifted to her briefly then back to her research.

“Your identity!”

“Why is that suddenly a topic?”

“Oh forget it!” Tikki flew away and dove under the blankets of the bed above.

Marinette gave her a concerned look as she watched Tikki hide then turned her gaze back to her computer. _‘It just can’t be the bakery….it just can’t!’_ Marinette’s mind reeled as she watched report after report, interview after interview all confirm that the bakery is linked to the akumatization. _‘But no one here is akumatized!’_

“Tikki!” Marinette called out to her kwami. “How am I supposed to find an akumatized victim if I can’t see them?”

Tikki peaked her head out of the blankets. “Oh right,” she began and floated back down to her human. “The last time this happened the akuma, or tenshi, victim’s appearance didn’t change. They only gained their weapon that the akuma or tenshi resides in. That’s the only thing that would’ve changed appearances.”

“Well that certainly explains why we couldn’t find it.” Marinette sighed out and then something dawned on her. “It could very well be one of my parents!” Marinette shot up out of her chair and stood before her hatch leading to the lower floors. “Do I confront them as Ladybug, or Marinette?” she asked herself.

“Do it as Ladybug, it’ll be a lot less suspicious for how much you know!” Tikki encouraged and Marinette nodded.

“Tikki, spots on!”

She descended the stairs and snuck out the back window and climbed down the side of the building until she hit the ground. She circled around and took note of the small crowd of people hanging around the streets. She came up to the side door of the bakery and knocked on it. A very large man came to the door and opened it.

“Sorry, but we--- Ladybug? What are you doing here at four in the morning?” the man asked confused.

“Can I come in please?” she asked almost sadly. He stood aside and let her walk inside.

She made her way to the counter where she saw trays of raw dough waiting to be baked into bread. She looked all around for anything she could see that was different from normal and saw nothing. She looked him from head to toe and shook her head.

“Where’s mo—Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?” she stuttered.

“She’s in the backroom preparing enough tea to feed all of England.” He chuckled and she headed for the back prep room alone.

“Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?” she called out softly as she opened the door.

The woman turned to look at her in awe and gasped. “Ma—Ladybug?”

Ladybug looked her up and down, initially not seeing anything out of place. She took a seat in one of the chairs at the prep table and moped. The woman moved to sit beside her and witnessed the superhero cough up a black and green petal. Ladybug held it in her hand and looked at it worriedly.

“Chat Noir, huh?” Sabine said pleasantly as she continued to pluck petals off of dried flowers from a stack on the counter.

“Yeah…” Ladybug mumbled with her head down, then her head jolted up again and looked back at her mother. “Wait, how do you know about this?”

“A mother always knows, Marinette.” Sabina said as she plucked a petal from the flower in her hair and added it to the growing pile on the table. “You found your prince.”

“How long have you known?” Ladybug asked softly. Her world tumbled down a hill of some unknown emotion that she couldn’t place. Some very strange took over her heart and wound itself tightly around it.

“Well, when you mysteriously vanish every time there’s an akuma attack or when Ladybug is on television you’re not around, it’s not hard to figure out. Besides, you didn’t come in the front door this morning. You must’ve come in from the balcony, you can’t climb a building without being Ladybug. You think I can’t hear you up there talking to yourself? Your father may be practically deaf, but I’m not.” Sabine explained and Ladybug sighed.

Ladybug’s shoulders slumped as she looked at the flowers wistfully as she coughed up yet another petal. “Wait a minute! You’re akumatized! Can’t Hawkmoth see through your eyes or something?”

“Fear not, I cut him off the moment he got ahold of me.” The woman said as she continued her work on the flower petals. “He’s tried to contact me quite a bit, but I just ignore him.”

“How did you get akumatized?” Ladybug asked sadly.

“When that Agreste boy came over he made you cry. My heart broke for you as you cried about how you thought he loved you and how he’d broken your trust and he said such awful things. When Hawkmoth akumatized me I felt two emotions, my anger towards the boy who’d broken your heart, and my unconditional love for you, my precious daughter.” Sabine said as she stroked Ladybug’s cheek. “I wanted you to have your prince charming, because no other would do for my princess.”

Ladybug’s heart shattered and she grabbed her mother and hugged her tightly, she sobbed into her shoulder as the woman stroked her hair. “Mom, I can’t believe you conquered an **_akuma_** for me! I love you so much!”

“I’d move the stars for you with my bare hands!” Sabine cried out.

“Mom, I’m going to have to cleanse that akuma now. It’s causing too much chaos.” Ladybug said as she pulled away and wiped her tears.

“I understand.” Sabine said as she pulled the flower from her hair and extended it to Ladybug. “I accomplished the only thing I set out to do, show you who is the one true worthy person of you in the world. Go get your prince!”

Ladybug took the flower and looked at it with bittersweet eyes. “Unfortunately, Chat Noir is no prince.”

“Then turn him into one!” Sabine said and Ladybug smiled back at her.

“I’ll try!” she said as she ripped the flower in half and the akuma was freed from it. She used her yoyo to cleanse the butterfly and release it. She used her lucky charm spell and a folded piece of paper dropped into her hands. She opened it and it read ‘thee hundred and thirty five’. She inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly. _’I know what I have to do now’_ she thought as she tossed the paper in the air and watched as it cleansed all of Paris.

She said her goodbyes and exited the backroom as Ladybug and gave a ‘shhh’ finger to her lips to her father before swiftly prancing out of the bakery. Tom gave a very confused look before turning to his wife who was standing in the doorway. Tom pointed at her accusingly and Sabine nodded. Nothing else was spoken between them as they went back to work, preparing for the busy day ahead.

Ladybug snuck back behind the building and leapt up to the roof and down onto her balcony and into her bedroom. “Tikki, spots off.” She said as she rolled onto her bed and sighed out. She held up her left hand and saw no string. She clutched the hand to her chest and gave a deep breath of relief. “Finally, that was the longest it’s ever taken me to find an akuma!”

“Good job Marinette!” Tikki said as she drifted down to the pillow beside her. “But remember, just because the string is gone, doesn’t mean the flowers are. Everyone who got a string connection, but didn’t confess will still be coughing up flower petals.”

“I know. I have to make a public announcement tomorrow as Ladybug and tell people what to do.” She said then yawned. “But first, I need more sleep.”

“I wonder if school is still cancelled?” Tikki asked.

“Probably, they already called it off so I doubt they’ll change it now. Besides, there’s still gonna be people in the streets coughing up flowers, they’re gonna keep looking for the string anyways.” Marinette said as she threw the blankets over herself and fell back to sleep rather quickly.

Adrien awoke at around eight in the morning and stretched with a loud yawn. He rolled over the mountain of flower petals and out of bed to his bathroom where he began his usual routine. While applying toothpaste to his toothbrush he froze. “Plagg, my string is gone!” he called out and the kwami came floating into the bathroom.

“Well, would you look at that! Ladybug found the akuma and cleansed it by herself!” Plagg said.

“Oh cool, guess I don’t have to stress about confessing to Marinette now. I can do it on my own time now.” He said then began brushing his teeth.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something.” Plagg started as he watching Adrien have another coughing fit and spit out several more pink petals into his sink. “The hanahaki disease is permanent until you confess, even after cleansing the akuma.”

 ** _“What!?”_** Adrien shrieked in horror.

“Yeah, about that…” Plagg chuckled nervously. “You can also **_die_** from hanahaki if you wait too long….”

“H-how long!?” Adrien gave Plagg a look of utter hopelessness, toothpaste dripping from his mouth and down his chin.

“I think it’s a year, or at least last time the hanahaki akuma struck it took people a year to start dying. You see, the reason you’re coughing up flowers is because a _Marinette Flower_ grew inside your soul and the petals fall off and come out of your body the only way they can, your mouth. Eventually this flower will consume your soul and detach it from your body.”

Adrien looked back at himself in the mirror and started rinsing out his mouth vigorously. He ran a brush through his hair half-assed and threw on his new clothes. He grabbed his motorcycle helmet and ran out of the house with his father following behind him quickly.

“Where are you going? School is still cancelled and I told you not-“

Adrien turned to him and coughed out a huge wad of pink petals in his face then ran for the front gates. Gabriel stood there in shock and utter confusion. _‘Did he just spit flowers at me? What nonsense is this?’_ he thought as he watched his son jump on his motorcycle and speed off down the street. Gabriel retreated to his lair where Nathalie was working on her tablet.

“Sir, the news has claimed that Ladybug cleansed an akuma this morning.” Nathalie said and showed him her tablet screen of a recording of the morning sky and the miraculous ladybug cleaning the town. “Apparently she found it at five thirty this morning and cleansed it. The strings have all disappeared, but people are claiming that they’re coughing up flower petals.”

“Interesting.” Gabriel muttered. “Adrien is one of them.”

“Supposedly only the people whose strings managed to connect to someone else are coughing up flowers.” She added and Gabriel let out a small noise of acknowledgement.

“I think we’ll have to up our game strategy if we are to put an end to this facade.” He said grimly.

“Understood.” Nathalie nodded.

Adrien sped off down the main street of mid-morning Paris, once again aimless in his journey despite knowing exactly where he would end up. _’I wanna see Marinette. I wanna see Ladybug. Marinette….Ladybug….’_ His mind raced back and forth, undecided which one he wanted to see more.

It was no surprise to him when he pulled up to the bakery and saw a long line a patrons waiting to get inside. The romance crowds had died down, but there was still certainly more foot traffic than a usual weekday morning. He parked his motorcycle and got in the queue. It took a lot less time than he thought to reach the front counter and when he did he was met with the sight of Sabine. She gave him a surprised look and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Is Marinette awake yet? I wanted to talk to her again today.” He asked and noted her mixed expression.

“I’ll go get her.” Sabine said and made her way upstairs. She came back down with a loose-haired Marinette in pajamas that yawned and stretched sleepily.

 _‘My soulmate is so adorable with messy hair, I can’t wait to wake up to her every morning!’_ he thought dreamily before snapping back to reality.

They locked yes and Marinette squeaked in surprise. “Mooom!” Marinette whined. “You said a **_friend_** was here to see me, not **_thee Adrien Agreste, super model extraordinaire!_** ” she whispered through grit teeth. Adrien heard the whole thing and wondered if she was disappointed to see him or of it was a compliment.

“Sorry, is this a bad time?” he asked worriedly.

“No, not at all!” Marinette straightened herself out. “I was just…uhh… Getting ready for school still!” she lied nervously.

“It’s almost nine in the morning and they cancelled all schools today.” He said perplexed.

“Oh, right!” Marinette blinked then shook her head, making her long untamed hair even fluffier. Adrien giggled at her, she was truly adorable. She giggled with him and something caught her eye, a cut on his lip and a bruise on his cheek that weren’t there yesterday. “Oh no, what happened to you?” she approached his and placed her palm on his cheek gently and he blushed.

“Oh uhm…you’ll probably hear all about it in the news today, so I might as well tell you.” Adrien said and she gave him a look of pure sympathy.

“Let’s go up to my room.” She said and led him up the stairs. She sat down on her chaise lounge and brushed her hair as he sat down on her computer chair and spoke.

“I got into a fistfight with Andre Lopez.” He started and sighed out.

Marinette gasped. _‘Chat Noir, how could you!?’_

“I totally started it though, he heard me make that phone call to you about avoiding him and it really upset him. I totally deserved it, but I couldn’t watch you go through the heartache that all the other girls did. He charms a girl, makes her fall head over heels in love, then cheats on her or dumps her.”

“What a monster!” Marinette hissed out.

“Speaking of Andre,” he began as he watched her angrily brush her hair. “Why did Alya come to Modella headquarters yesterday just to give him your phone number and address? Andre told me that’s why he had your number when he was flashing the paper around at the photoshoot.”

“Oh uhm….” He stopped brushing her hair to think of a lie. “That’s a good question…” she mumbled. “It didn’t really make sense to me either, but I suppose she had a good reason. I already talked to her about it and everything is okay now though.”

“So you promise you’re not gonna get involved with Andre?” he asked concerned.

 _‘If he’s Chat Noir I can’t keep that promise, what do I do? Make a promise to Adrien that I have no intention of keeping? If I never fall in love with Chat Noir I can’t give a legit confession and I’ll die in a year!’_ she thought as she bit her lower lip gently.

“Did you already develop feelings for him?” Adrien asked with wide eyes and a small gasp.

“I…I uhm….a little?” she said sheepishly as she shrunk her head into her shoulders.

Adrien spun in the swivel chair and groaned. “Nooo…..”

“I already knew he was bad news, what more do you know about him that I don’t?” she asked as she finished tying her hair up into her two pigtails down over her shoulders.

“Well, he lost his modeling contract four years ago when he cheated on another model from London that **_way_** outranked him. She tore his reputation apart and threw it in the dumpster fire, no one would hire him. But Modella finally signed a new contract with him after the fashion contest. He was dating that Juliette Auclair girl long before that and apparently she broke his heart, and now he’s out breaking everyone else’s heart.” Adrien said.

“Four years ago?” Marinette asked curiously.

“Yeah, four years ago Juliette broke his heart then he dated another model and broke her heart and it ruined his career.” Adrien repeated.

“Juliette Auclair….four years ago…” Marinette said and stood up as if in a trance. She made her way over to her computer beside Adrien and started typing into the search bar.

**[Model Andre Lopez and fashionista Juliette Auclair split after seven years of romance! Fashion industry in Paris devastated!**

**Childhood sweethearts said bittersweet goodbyes in Paris as Andre Lopez and Juliette Auclair call it quits when the young fashionista moves to London to pursuit a contract with Modella’s London office. A heartbroken Andre Lopez is left distraught back in Paris where he starts dating fellow model Aimee DeClue. It’s only been a couple weeks and he’s already cheated on her with Cynthia Benoit. Was this why Juliette Auclair chose London over what appeared to be true love?]**

“Oh yeah, Aimee was her name. He cheated on her with Cynthia, I remember how destroyed both girls were over it. He’s been breaking hearts ever since.” Adrien explained.

“Wait a minute!” Marinette gasped out. “Andre dated Juliette for **_seven years_**!?”

“Yes.” Adrien’s eyebrow quirked in confusion. “She did come back to Paris for the annual contests, but she lives here again now. I see her sometimes in the Modella building. I wonder if the two have spoken since now that they both work there again.”

Marinette blinked repeatedly as she tried doing math on her fingers. “How can that be? Seven plus four is like thirteen years! They must’ve been small kids when they got together!”

“What’s wrong? Did he lie to you?” Adrien scowled. He coughed once and slapped his hand over his mouth and swallowed the petal quickly.

_‘How can Chat Noir have been single with never actually having a girlfriend before and have dated Juliette? He told me from day one that he’d never had a girlfriend before and that he’s never even been kissed! Did Andre lie to me or…or…’_

“Marinette?” Adrien asked worriedly.

“Adrien, I’m sorry to ask you this, but can you leave please?” she asked and he remained seated, utterly baffled. “Please, I promise I’ll make it up to you! I have to go see Alya!”

“You don’t owe me anything.” He said as he stood up and smiled warmly at her. “Just please keep your promise not to get involved with Andre.”

“That’s a promise I can’t keep!” she smirked. “I have a plan!”

“Okay, but….don’t fall in love…” he pleaded.

“Oh please, not with him!” she chuckled and pulled out her phone to text Alya. “I’ll see you later!”

“See you around then!” he said then climbed down her stairs.

Marinette threw her clothes on and grabbed her purse as she continued to text Alya.

**[Marinette: Alya, I have to meet with you in person. Come pick me up!]**

**[Alya: You wanna explain all these fucking flower petals in my bed first?]**

**[Marinette: Turn on the news damnit!]**

Alya gave her phone a dirty look before flipping the news channel on. “Oh….” Was all she said as the news was filled to the brim with hanahaki madness.

“So that’s a thing now…” Nino said in awe.

“It’s a good thing we never got caught up in all that soulmate-akuma business.” Alya sighed out as she put her shoes on. “Get ready, we gotta go pick up Marinette, apparently something urgent came up.”

“Why did she even leave then?” he asked with a yawn as they walked out to her car.

They pulled up to the bakery and Marinette jumped into the backseat with lattes and croissants. “Go to Modella headquarters!”

“Going back for more Andre?” Alya scoffed as she accepted a latte.

“Yup, but I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind!” she grinned wickedly.

“You go girl!” Alya said as she took off.

As they pulled up and parked Marinette bolted out of the car and up to the driver side window. “Don’t follow me, just stay here. I’m gonna go serve up some justice.”

“Be safe, I hear he’s a wolf in wolf’s fur!” Alya shouted after her friend.

Marinette hid behind the side of the building and hid behind a dumpster. She opened her purse and looked at Tikki who returned the look with a worried expression.

“Be careful Marinette, I don’t know what you’re planning, but it feels dangerous!”

“It’s okay, I finally understand why my lucky charm last night was the paper with my contestant number on it! Tikki, spots on!” she said and transformed into Ladybug. She yo-yo’d her way up to the roof and entered through the rooftop access door. She jumped from stairwell to stairwell, passing several curious onlookers who were using the stairs. She made her way to the first floor and entered the lobby where she approached the secretary.

“Hi there!” Ladybug greeted the awestruck woman.

“H-hi, Ladybug!” the woman gasped. “How can I help? Is there an akuma?”

“No no, everything is fine!” Ladybug giggled. “Is Andre Lopez in today?”

“Augh!” the woman gagged. “He’s broken every heart in Paris and now he’s gotten to **_Ladybug_** too!?”

“Oh god no!” She laughed. “I’m here on strict Modella business!”

“Oh thank god!” the woman said exasperatedly. “He’s in photo lab four. Go ahead on in, no one is going to stop Ladybug!”

Ladybug thanked her and made her way to the photo wing until she reached room four. She was allowed inside no questioned asked as promised and was met with the sight of Andre posing in front of a camera, a big cheesy grin on his face that fell when his eyes landed on her.

“Oh wow, she looks like the real thing!” he said with excitement.

“That’s because I **_am_** the real thing, now come here.” She said with a wag of her finger at him.

The photographer excused Andre and she pulled him into a private room and shut the door. He looked like a kid in a candy shop as he eyed her up and down.

“No funny business, I’m here on a mission.” She started and he nodded. She began circling around him and eyed him cautiously. “Five years ago Chat Noir prepared a special surprise for me on a rooftop. What was it?” she asked and stopped right in front of him.

“Huh?” he gave her an odd look. “How the hell would I know that?”

Ladybug’s eyes went wide and her heart fluttered. “What’s Chat Noir’s secret nickname for me that not even the Ladyblog knows about?” She asked desperately as she grabbed his upper arms and shook him gently.

“Why the fuck should I know!?” he asked in terror. He sensed a very mysterious ass-whoppin’ in his near future.

She shook him harder. “What was my lucky charm the last time we met?”

“ ** _I don’t know._** ” He said darkly, growing annoyed.

She backed off and let herself fall flat on her back on the ground and take a huge sigh of relief. “Oh thank god!” she practically screamed. _‘He’s not Chat Noir! The monster Andre Lopez is **not** Chat Noir!’ _her mind repeated over and over again victoriously.

Andre backed up against the wall in sheer horror as Ladybug got back on her feet and slapped her hands down onto his shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. “ _Bonjour, Monsieur **pas** Chat Noir!”_

“You thought I was Chat Noir?” he asked with a grim expression.

“Well the way you talked at the contest it seemed like it. Wait…that also means… You don’t know who I am!” she said excitedly.

“I know what you look like.” He said still frozen in fear against the wall.

“Guess my name correctly and I’ll go on a date with you.” She smirked.

His heart fluttered slightly at the thought and he gave it consideration. “Hmm…..Emily! You look like an Emily to me!”

“Nope!”

“Cecile?”

“Oh god no!”

“Sophie?”

“Strike three!” she cheered. “You never knew my civilian name!”

“Uh….no… Why?” he asked still entirely confused.

“You’re going to help me keep my identity a secret and in exchange I’m going to help you win Juliette back so you can stop breaking all the hearts in Paris!” she said boldly with a cheeky grin.

“How am I supposed to do that?” he asked, every emotion from fear to excitement coursing through him.

“You’re the only one who knew my contestant number. You never gave it to Gabriele Agreste, right?” she asked.

“I was going to, but that whole trade deal is off now, so no I didn’t.”

“Good, you’re going to go take me into the file records of the contest and change my number.” She said and opened the door and motioned for him to lead the way.

“I don’t have access to that stuff!” he said as he looked out into the empty hallway.

“It’s okay, I’ve got a plan! Just go to the room where they keep that stuff.” She said and he took her down the hall to the event coordinator’s room. He knocked on the door and a middle-aged woman opened the door and eyed them both.

“Ladybug?” the woman stammered.

“Ma’am, there’s an urgent situation, I’m going to need you to leave.” She half lied. The situation truly was urgent.

“Y-yes!” the woman stuttered as she took off running.

Ladybug pushed Andre into the small room and together they rooted through file after file until they found ‘three hundred thirty five’. He held it up and tried to open it, but she snatched it from him with a dirty look. She opened it to see her name and profile picture and sighed. She grabbed all the other files and mixed up their contents, blending her own in with them in the process. She then went to the computer that was left logged in and found the online files and jumbled those as well until none of the contestants were the same.

“There, now both paper and online files are mixed up and neither paper nor online files match one another. So even if someone found paper file three thirty five, it won’t even match online file three thirty five! No one’s numbers match anything!” she said and took a sigh of relief.

“I guess it’s super important to keep your identity a secret, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yes, Hawkmoth could be anyone. If he ever got ahold of my true identity it could doom the whole world.” She said as she flopped down into a chair to rest.

After a few seconds of silence he spoke up. “I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and repeated it. “I’m so sorry I put you through that kind of jeopardy.”

Ladybug was surprised by how honest he sounded. “We’re not out of this yet. I still have to convince you to keep your mouth shut about the number regardless. There could be another save file or copy of the contestants somewhere. You must take that number to your grave.”

“Don’t worry, I gain nothing from it anyways. My life is over no matter what I do. Even if my modeling career takes off my past will always catch up with me.” He slammed his head onto the table before him.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. _‘He’s not wrong, but I did promise to help him in return.’_ She thought then an idea hit her. “Lucky charm!” she shouted and a hot cup of tea dropped into her hands. For the first time in her life she wasn’t instantly confused on what to do with her lucky charm. She set it down in front of him and he looked up at her curiously. He mumbled something in coherently and she giggled at him.

“Take a sip.” She said enthusiastically. “I think you’ll find it enlightening!”

He shrugged and took a sip. Nothing happened. He took a bigger sip and set the half full cup down. As he pulled his hand back he saw his red string dangling from his finger. His head whipped around to look at her.

“See anything?” she asked casually.

“My string, I never got the chance to go find mine….” He started, but the excitement drained from him. “But the other person has to drink too….”

“Well, come with me!” she said as she grabbed the half full cup and led him out of the room and up to the next floor. “Wait here.” She ordered as she turned the corner and knocked on an office door.

“Come in!” came a woman’s voice and Ladybug opened the door and locked eyes with a very surprised fellow bluenette. “L-ladybug?”

“Juliette, there’s no time to explain, I need you to drink this!” Ladybug said sternly as she held the cup out to her.

“Of course! Anything to help!” Juliette said as she took the cup and downed the whole drink as quickly as possible. With a gasp for air she handed the empty cup to Ladybug. “Now what?”

Ladybug didn’t say a word, she just pointed at Juliette’s left hand and the woman’s eyes followed her gesture. She gasped as she saw a red string connecting her to outside her office.

“My string is back…..but I …. I thought you cleansed the akuma this morning? My string never connected to anyone… I thought…I….” Juliette mumbling trailed off as she realized the string connected to someone just outside her office door. “ ** _Andre get in here_**!” she shouted with almost anger.

A trembling and sobbing Andre shuffled into her office; face buried in his hands unable to look up at her. “Ju—ju…” he began but couldn’t find the courage to speak.

She let out a sigh and turned to Ladybug. “Thank you.” She said before turning back to the sniveling man in front of her. “Andre, I don’t know how you managed to con **_Ladybug_** of all women, but….but I’m glad you did.” She said, her voice softening.

Andre looked up at her finally and wiped his cheeks. “Y-you are?” he asked weakly.

Ladybug’s earrings began to blink and she moved closer to the door in preparation to leave. “I have to go now, but you two enjoy!” she said then tossed the cup in the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The only thing the charm cleansed was that single room of two people and the string that connected them. Juliette and Andre watched as their string vanished as quickly as it had come and the fashionista made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around him and he returned the hug.

Ladybug swiftly ascended the stairs and exited to the rooftop where she jumped back down to the alley behind the dumpster and let her transformation fall off. “Wow, that couldn’t possibly have gone better!” Marinette exclaimed.

“Marinette!” Tikki whined. “You used your lucky charm for personal gain!”

“No I didn’t! I used it to keep my identity a secret and in the name of love! Besides, if Juliette and Andre can work out their relationship again then he won’t be breaking any more hearts! Less akumatizations!” Marinette said.

“Yeah, you are right about that!” Tikki conceded.

“I wonder how many of the akumas in the last four years were the hearts of young girls Andre broke?” she mused as she made her way back to Alya’s car.

“Probably lots!” Tikki giggled and hid inside her purse as Marinette got to the car and jumped inside.

“So, did you accomplish what you needed to?” Alya asked as she turned the car on.

“Yup!” Marinette smiled as she gave her the ‘V’ pose with her fingers. “Everything is better than ever!”

Alya raised a brow at her from the mirror. “Oh is it now? How’s loverboy Andre?”

“Turns out he wasn’t my soulmate, I got him confused with another Modella employee.” Marinette shrugged, then her eyes flew wide open. _‘Wait, then who was my soulmate at the Modella headquarters that day? Who all was on the top floor with Andre? Who came down the elevator with Andre?’_

“ _The less you think about it the better!”_ Tikki whispered having sensed her thoughts and Marinette smiled.

 _‘She’s right, I’m not supposed to know who Chat Noir is, but I do know where he works now!’_ she thought mischievously.

“Well that’s a relief!” Alya said and turned onto the highway. “You know who else was there who came down the elevator with Andre though, _riiiiight_?” Alya sang out. “You even said you saw the string coming down quickly, like it was on an elevator.”

“Don’t tell me!” Marinette panicked.

“You seriously don’t want to know?” Alya asked perplexed.

“That isn’t how soulmates are supposed to find each other!” she said quickly.

“ ** _I have the information you seek on the tip of my tongue!”_** Alya said sinisterly.

“Let it just be!” Marinette sighed out. “I want time to figure it out on my own, this isn’t how I want to find him.”

“Girl, are you certain of that?” Alya asked.

“I’m positive, and when the time comes that I give in, I’ll ask who it was that came down the elevator with Andre.” Marinette smiled back at her though the mirror.

“Alright girl, but I’m gonna lose my mind trying to keep it a secret. You’re literally torturing me!” Alya groaned.

“Then suffer!” Marinette laughed out.


End file.
